Never The Way It Was Before
by warchiefzeke05
Summary: Sequel to "They Had Flames Inside Their Eyes". Snape is assigned the new Headmaster of Hogwarts.He implements revolutionary changes, that will leave the school a completely different place. A place no more hostile towards the Dark Wizards- a place designed to raise a new generation of them... Dark!Luna, OC/Luna. Less cringey than the previous one but still cringey AF.(sorry!)
1. Everything's About to Change

This is a sequel to "They Had Flames Inside their Eyes", so in case you haven't, PLEASE read it first.

This time I will post chapters separately, not the entire story at once, as I was stupid enough to do with the previous one :)

I DON'T OWN ANYTHING. Enjoy.

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_I have never thought they could be victorious,_

_I have never thought they could do things right._

_I have never thought I would have borne witness_

_To rise of those, who would conquer the Light._

POV: Severus Snape

The freshly appointed Headmaster paced around his enormous room in the Malfoy Manor. He was aware that the following school year at Hogwarts is not going to be easy.

Of course, him being appointed as the Headmaster by the Dark Lord wasn't a surprise, as he was currently the only capable person. Additionally, the Ministry and the Board of Governors being already on their side, approved of his appointment unanimously.

Severus stopped by the huge window in his room, looking at a part of the Malfoy Estate once being a Quidditch Pitch, currently rearranged as a training field. He smiled, spotting a short and skinny teenager in fitting, short-sleeved sport robes, sprinting loops around the field under a watchful eye of Alecto and Amycus Carrow.

Snape sighed. It was a time to let those three know what will the next year look like for them.

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POV: Nordi Exile

'You're pathetic! Keep the pace up!'

Nordi clenched his teeth and approached the obstacle course yet again. He sprinted towards a wire entanglements and dove behind them, crawling in a thick mud for over twenty meters. Then, he jumped off and ran further, reaching a fifteen-feet-high climbing wall, which he had to climb on and jump to the other side. The next obstacle was a wide, knee-deep pool of water, that he had to walk through as fast as he could, to reach the end of the assault course.

'Tempus!' yelled Amycus. 'Two minutes twenty seconds, Exile! You're getting tired, or you're being slower on purpose?'

Mud-covered Nordi gasped to catch his breath. He blushed slightly; the training regime he had to undergo under Carrow siblings was more exhausting than performing five Blood Sacrificial Rituals in a row. Unfortunately, most of the Death Eaters-even Bella herself- agreed on that he had to take on some kind of physical training this summer, because- being an excellent Dark Wizard as he was- physical strength and endurance was the things he was severely lacking.

'I'm not slowing down on purpose, it's just the first time I'm doing any body exercises. I've never thought such things are important for a Wizard.' muttered Nordi towards Carrow.

'Of course they are!' Amycus answered. 'Look at yourself. How much do you weight, seventy pounds? You are a Death Eater, you go on Raids, and as much as your Magical performance is the most important- your endurance and physical strength are crucial as well! '

'You excel in any other field, Exile, it would be a shame for you to stand out from the rest of us in such a negative way in the field of physical strength.' added Alecto.

'I'll run through the assault course once more.' Nordi decided. 'Amycus, please time me.'

However, before he had a chance to start, Orion appeared walking by to them with a very anxious expression.

'Ha, the next one with a severe muscular dystrophy! You're here to join us, Exile? Because you really should...'

'Actually, its Black now.' Orion corrected. 'And I'm not here to exercise, I'm here to show you something. The three of you will not be having much time for assault courses anymore.'

Orion handed to Nordi a piece of parchment. Nordi shot him a surprised look, but looked on the sheet. It was a Hogwarts faculty list for the following school year.

_HEADMASTER/DEPUTY HEADMASTER- SEVERUS TOBIAS SNAPE_

_POTIONS- HORACE EUGENE FLACCUS SLUGHORN_

_TRANSFIGURATION- MINERVA MCGONAGALL_

_CHARMS- FILIUS FLITWICK_

_HERBOLOGY- POMONA SPROUT_

_MUGGLE STUDIES- ALECTO CARROW_

_APPLIED DARK ARTS- AMYCUS CARROW_

_COMBATIVE DARK ARTS- NORDI EXILE_

_HISTORY OF MAGIC- ORION BLACK JUNIOR_

_ASTRONOMY- AURORA SINISTRA_

_ARITHMANCY- SEPTIMA VECTOR_

_ANCIENT RUNES- BATHSELDA BUBBLING_

_CARE OF MAGICAL CREATURES- RUBEUS HAGRID_

When Nordi rose his eyes from the piece of parchment, he expected Orion to be laughing; he was sure it was some kind of a joke. However, his former guardian looked unnerved and tensed, like if the list was a huge surprise for him, too.

'Orion, I can't be a teacher.' he said, passing the list over to Carrow sibling. 'I haven't even taken my NEWTs.'

'Neither did I.' Orion answered. 'That is why the two of us are supposed to attend a resit of this year NEWTs, along with the seventh-years who were unsuccessful. The resit takes place in two weeks time.'

'You're kidding me!'

'I'm just passing on Headmaster Snape's words. If you don't believe me, go and talk to him.'

Nordi couldn't shake his shock. On the other hand, Amycus looked overjoyed.

'Sister, we're going to be teaching at Hogwarts! Isn't that awesome?'

Alecto stared at the piece of parchment.

'That's incredible! As much as I would never have expected that, I'm looking forward!'

'I must talk with Headmaster Snape.' Nordi muttered. This entire situation seemed unreal to him.

'We're going with you.' Amycus offered.

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Nordi knocked at the door of Snape's room, and, having heard an invitation, all four of them (Orion decided to go along as well) stepped in. Snape turned his pale face at them.

'Professor, we need to talk...' Nordi started.

Snape pointed them a couch to sit on.

'Exile, I expected your visit. I'm aware that the new faculty list is surprising to you...'

'I can't be a teacher at Hogwarts, Professor!' Nordi cut him off, not very politely.

'Exile, I really cannot think of anyone more fitted to the job at the moment. You know much more of Offensive and Defensive Dark Magic than the majority of adult Dark Wizards put together. What is more, as far as I know, you have already spent a great deal of time working as a teacher...'

'Yes, sir, but I have been teaching Basic Level Trainees at the Orphanage! In case Orion hasn't told you, those are children aged between four and seven. If I was to teach at Hogwarts... I would have to teach in majority people older than myself!'

'Yes, Exile, Orion has informed me about the age groups you have experience with. Nevertheless, I don't think the age of students makes any difference. As far as I know, you have been so successful with your Basic Level Trainees, that you have managed to improve their combat level during two months of summer holidays.'

Nordi nodded; that was true. However, they were exclusive kids with Dark affinity. He was sure he wouldn't have been this successful with young Light Wizards.

'Sir, what about the Gryffindors? Will I have to teach them too? You know how reluctant they are when it comes to Dark Arts. The same goes for majority of Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws. They will not accept me, nor will they accept Amycus teaching Applied Dark Arts.'

Snape shook his head.

'Exile, I see it's the time for a longer conversation. You need to have a deeper understanding how dramatic and revolutionary changes are about to happen at Hogwarts.'

Snape summoned a chair and sat in front of them.

'Exile, Hogwarts will never be the way it was before. My first act as the Headmaster will be to terminate the existence of the Hogwatrs' four Houses.'

The four Death Eaters in front of him gasped.

'There will be no more Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclav and Slytherin?' Alecto asked. 'But they existed for thousands years, since the very beginning of the school!'

Snape shook his head.

'This is a popular belief, but an incorrect one. The Founders, at first, wanted the school to be an unity. The Houses weren't existing from the very beginning. Only the misunderstandings and internal conflicts between the four of them led Hogwarts to be divided into four Houses. Nevertheless, this division is not something the Founders were proud of. It was quite the opposite; the Houses were the symbol of their failure. A failure to create an united, consentaneous school for young Witches and Wizards.'

Nordi nodded, pondering upon this. He had never thought of that this way, but Snape was definitely right.

'As you may or may not know, such thing as division into Houses is nonexistent to the other Wizarding schools worldwide.' Snape went on.' A model institution we will take an example of, is Durmstrang Institute of Magic. The student body, as well as the faculty, is united there. There is no hatred caused by different House affinity, no competition between the students, no conflicts among the Professors. This Eastern European school is a living proof of division into Houses being completely unnecessary and counter-productive.'

Orion rose his hand.

'Headmaster Snape' he said. 'As much as I agree with the existence of Houses being counter-productive, I'm afraid that many of the students will rebel against putting their Houses down. They are likely to cling to the Houses they were sorted into, even if they'll be officially non-existent.'

'Students' rebellions' Snape answered 'Is the next problem we will have to deal with. However, I can assure you here and now: we are going to deal with them mercilessly. All the rebellions, against the new order at school, against our Case, or against the Dark Lord, are to be nipped in the bud. I have received such instructions from our Lord himself.'

Orion, Nordi, Amycus and Alecto nodded.

'The next case is the curriculum. All four of you have attended Hogwarts, so you have the idea what the current one looks like, having said that it hasn't changed much over the last hundreds of years. It is going to be completely uproot and replaced with a new one. You are aware how much of a low-level and not very sophisticated school Hogwarts is at the moment. I have set as a point of honor to let the current Hogwarts students receive incomparably much better level of education than the previous generations. Of course, for the upper-year students, it will be much more difficult to adapt to the new curricullum now-at the end of their school career- but I am willing to provide those students a set of compensatory classes to help them catch up. The newbies and lower-year students, on the other hand, are going to have a fresh start to a completely new educational system.'

Nordi lifted his eyes on Snape.

'That's sick awesome, Professor.' he said with a genuine admiration. 'However, I've noticed some names on the faculty list that can be an obstacle in our revolution. Mcgonnagal, Flitwick...'

Alecto and Amycus nodded.

' Mcgonagall...I remember that old bitch.' Amycus said. 'I've never met such an uptight, stubborn and prejudiced person. She hates Dark Wizards nearly as much as Dumbledore did.' Amycus said.

Snape nodded.

'This is a good question. You must know, that I have been advised by the Board of Governors against replacing the entire Hogwarts faculty. I was asked to let the teachers with longest time of service stay. This is a strategic move, a preventive treatment against having to deal with hundreds of outraged parents. Nevertheless, this is also why I decided to put on the faculty list as much Death Eaters as possible. I guaranteed for us to be in the majority.'

'Does Mcgonagall know about all those planned changes?' Orion asked.

'Not yet. I am going to tell her when I will accompany the two of you-Black, Exile- to Hogwarts at the end of July, when you are going to sit your NEWT exams.'

'Headmaster, please brew some Calming Draught and make her drink before you tell her. If she dies of heart attack, you will have to look for another Transfiguration Professor.' Nordi said.

All five Death Eaters burst into laughter. Even Snape.


	2. Death Eater's NEWTs

POV: Nordi Exile

At 30th of July, Snape, Orion, and Nordi apparated at the Hogsmeade Train Station, all dressed in their formal, black, semi-leather Death Eaters' robes.

'I forgot about Flitwick mending the damn wards!' Nordi muttered. 'Now we have to walk such a long way.'

'As soon as you are done with the exams, you can take them down. They are no longer needed. You will leave only the one preventing Muggles from seeing the castle.' Snape replied.

'Yes, Professor.'

CRACK! Amycus and Alecto appeared by their side.

'Hey! I didn't know you were coming along!' Nordi smiled.

'I also didn't, however, Severus suggested us dropping by and meeting the rest of the faculty.' Alecto said.

'Our new _colleagues.' _Amycus added. 'Wonder how we will get along.'

As they made their way up the hill, Severus warned the Carrow siblings against the wards, and suggested them to conceal their Magical Aura for a while. Alecto and Amycus did as they were told, but nevertheless winced in pain as they crossed the ward.

'Professor, who will be at the examination committee? Are Amycus and Alecto going to grade us, too?' Nordi asked.

'No, Exile. Although the standard examination committee for NEWTs consists of a large number of teachers, it's not the case during a resit. There aren't usually a lot of students having to resit their exams, so the number of teachers is adequately smaller. Today only four Professors are going to grade you. Myself, Professor Mcgonagall, Professor Flitwick and Professor Sprout.'

'Oh... Pity you're the only one from _our _side, sir.'

'Don't expect any special treatment during the exams only because we are on the same side, Exile.'

'I wouldn't even have to ask for one, sir! I'm prepared. Orion, on the other hand...'

He turned his head towards his former guardian and gave him an amused look.

'Piss off, Nordi.'

Unlike Nordi, Orion was very uptight about the exams. He's never had a chance to take them during his school years, because he got involved in the First Wizarding War and never returned to Hogwarts after his fifth year. Therefore, he was over ten years older than most of the examinees and didn't feel too comfortable; Nordi tried to cheer him up by cracking jokes.

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When the five Death Eaters stepped into the Great Hall, eyes of everybody focused on them.

Eight seventh-years students, who had been unsuccessful during their first approach to NEWT exams, were already gathered in the hall, as well as the rest of the examination committee. Mcgonagall, Flitwick and Sprout sat at the Head Table, watching the newly arrived men with a mixture of worry and disgust.

'I sense a heated exchange of views.' Amycus whispered to Nordi, who smirked and almost burst into laughter.

The five men in black battle robes came by gracefully to the Head Table. Mcgonagall visibly paled and clenched her lips even tighter than usual.

Snape nodded curtsy to the three teachers.

'Good morning, Professors .' he said. 'Firstly, let me introduce you to your new colleagues. '

'Mr Amycus Carrow will teach Applied Dark Arts. His sister, Miss Alecto Carrow, will cover Muggle Studies. Mr Black here will teach History of Magic, and Mr Exile will cover Combative Dark Arts.'

Mcgonagall had a look like she was about to get sick. She gave all four new teachers hostile looks, but Nordi and Orion were to be eyed especially viciously.

'Those two Exiles cannot become teachers, Severus.' she declared. 'They had never passed their NEWTs.'

'That is what they are for here today.' Snape answered. 'They will take their exams together with the students who are here to resit them.'

Mcgonagall, Sprout and Flitwich exchanged looks; it wasn't against the school status, moreover- even if it was- now Snape was the one to set the rules. There was nothing they could do; maybe except for giving Snape an earful- what Pomona Sprout decided to do.

'I really don't understand how could you have been made a Headmaster. How could you introduce Death Eaters into our school, handing them over our children to teach. How could you came up with the new subjects that Hogwarts have never been teaching throughout the history! _Combative Dark Arts!' _Sprout spat out the name of the class like it was a swearword.

'I want to inform you, Pomona' Snape started calmly. 'that if you disagree with the changes that are about to happen at Hogwarts, such as new faculty , new curriculum or the new set of rules, you are free to put your quit notice on my desk anytime. As you may or may not know, I have been suggested to let you stay at Hogwarts by the Board of Governors. Nevertheless, if you decide to disagree with the new order and leave the job, there is more than enough competent individuals in _our _ranks, who can replace you as a Herbology teacher.'

Pomona looked at him angrily, but soon lowered her eyes.

'If that is all, my dear colleagues, I suggest to let the exams start. Amycus, Alecto, you may want to make your way to your new staff quarters upstairs and make yourselves comfortable. I will get a house elf to guide you there.'

As soon as the Carrows left, Snape took his place at the Head Table and Orion and Nordi sat among the examinees. Flitwick levitated a piece of parchment to each students. The exams were still held in accordance with the old curriculum and the first one was Charms theory.

Unlike the standard NEWTs procedure, which involved the exams taking place throughout the entire week- each day one theoretical and one practical- the resits were all squeezed into one. Keeping that in mind, Orion and Nordi were ones of the few who had to sit _all _of the NEWTs that day. The majority of present students had to approach only one of two exams, which they had failed earlier that year. The written tests for Charms, Transfiguration, Potions, Herbology and Defense against Dark Arts took place one after another, with only fifteen minutes break between each. They had only an hour time to complete each test, but Nordi nevertheless was each time done way before the time-up, and amused himself for the remaining time by making stupid faces to the nervous, sweating Orion.

After they were done with written tests , the time for Practicals came. They lined up in front of the Great Hall, waiting for their names to be called. In order not to call each person for each subject separately , a person called inside was about to approach the Practicals in all the subjects they needed at one go.

As Orion was stepping in when his name was called, he was so sweaty like if someone has poured a bucket of water all over him. Nevertheless, he came back after a little over one hour, grinning with satisfaction- he was sure he had passed everything.

Nordi was the last one to be examined. It was already about sunset when he was entering the Great Hall; a golden-orange light was filling the room.

He stood upright in front of the Head Table. As he saw the disgusted looks from Mcgonagall and Sprout, he couldn't help but smirk.

'Alright, Mr Exile.' Snape started. 'We shall start with a Potions Practical exam. I will ask you to choose correct ingredients from the dresser in front of you, and brew a Pepper-up Potion.'

Nordi grinned; Pepper up Potion-an equivalent of a caffeinated drink- has been his food replacement since his youngest years. He was able to brew it even in his sleep.

The next exam was Transfiguration; Mcgonagall asked him to turn a desk into a dog and back (he remembered with a nostalgia his first Transfiguration class two years before, when he had turned all desks into piglets). Flitwick demanded a Cleansing Spell and a Shape Changing Spell, and Sprout showed him a bunch of small plants in pots to recognize.

The last exam was DADA- a subject nonexistent in the new curriculum. Snape looked up at him.

'Mr Exile, I will conjure a training dummie for you to demonstrate defensive and offensive spells you have learned. The dummie is one of the more durable ones, your assignment is to tear it to shreds. You may proceed with the accordance with the... new curriculum, if you wish.'

Nordi exposed his teeth in a grin. He knew what Snape has meant by that : _You can use as many Dark spells as you wish._

Mcgonagall, Flitwick and Sprout stared in disbelief, as Nordi bombarded the dummie with the most powerful curses he knew. He used a combination of Blasting Curse, Cutting Curse, a lightening and a variation of well-aimed Fiendfyre. The dummie was one of the advanced ones- it was able to shield itself or repel a curse, but with Nordi's crazy-paced treatment it didn't have enough time to react. Soon it laid on the ground torn into pieces.

'Very well, Mr Exile. Now, please, wait outside for your exams results.' Snape said, vanishing the remains of the dummie from the ground.

Nordi stepped outside and waited together with Orion and eight seventeen-year-olds for the results. When Flitwick finally came by and handed the sheets with grades over to them, he saw with satisfaction that, even the hostility the three Professors had towards him, did not prevent him from receiving straight "O's".


	3. Rearranging Hogwarts

POV: Nordi Exile

The remainings of the summer holidays passed rather uneventfully.

Draco was happy that Nordi was about to return to Hogwarts together with him, even if they weren't to be schoolmates anymore. The blonde boy was teasing his friend for the remaining of summer, calling him "Professor". Nordi was aware that he had to get used to the uneasiness, caused by this title being uttered by people older than himself.

Alecto and Amycus- much to Draco's annoyance- kept on leading the physical drill that Nordi had to be subjected to. Draco was upset ,because of the space- originally being his own, private Quidditch Pitch- now has been rearranged to be a huge training field. However, each time he came up to Carrows to complain about it, he was forced to partake in the exercises; therefore, he soon gave up.

Orion spent the last month of the summer holidays in the Orphanage. Although Cyrilla Dangan- the current person in charge- has been doing a wonderful job over the past year, Orion wanted to personally check on the kids and the educational progress they made.

At the very end of August, in a few days before departure to Hogwarts, the four new teachers and Snape were summoned to the Dark Lord's office.

The Dark Lord seemed seriously concerned about Hogwarts. He seemed to have taken a personal interest in the welfare and educational standards of the school. It wasn't surprising for Nordi; after all, the Dark Lord seized control of the school for the first time, and he was a kind of person to understand perfectly how important raising of the next generation is.

The Dark Lord expressed his high expectations and hopes towards the four new faculty members. He told them about the cruciality of changing educational standards and the general ideology of Hogwarts. He basically brought up the same topics and issues Snape did a few weeks before; nevertheless, hearing those words from such an intimidating person as Lord Voldemort himself made a huge impact on everyone.

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At the night before the departure, Bellatrix came to Nordi's room with tears in her eyes.

'Hey... Bella, come on...No need to cry... Last year, I have also been at Hogwarts, and despite this we hung out together all of the time...'

'Yes, Nordi-boy, but back then you were a student. A student who didn't pay much attention to studying, having said that. Now, as a teacher, you will have incomparably more work and duties. You won't be able to apparate to the Headquarters as you please.'

Nordi's heart sank. She was right.

'But look, I'm sure I'll be summoned for some Raids in the meantime. Remember that Professor Snape did partake in the Raids last year, even though he has a full schedule as a teacher.' Nordi tried to think positive.

'That's possible. But you need to remember that the assignment you have at the moment is the most important one. The Dark Lord himself said that raising and educating the next generation of Wizards and Witches is crucial for us. The future of the Wizarding World lies within its children. You have to change the foundations of Hogwarts.'

Bella was usually a laid-back and cheerful person. The one of a kind to cast an explosion curse into the air and giggle of it together with Nordi. The boy preferred when Bella joked and smiled. Seeing her so serious and upset was heartbreaking.

'I'll give everything I have to change Hogwarts into a better place.' Nordi promised.

'And for this new task of yours, Nordi-boy... I figured you would need this.'

She handed to him a package wrapped in brown paper. He unwrapped it and gasped in disbelief.

'Bella...! _By the Dark Lord's name...!_'

It was a brand-new Death Eater's outfit.

Nordi's current set of robes was a hand-me-down from Orion. The one that survived the First Wizarding war and was presented to the boy for his ninth birthday. This outfit was still in a decent condition, but Nordi had to admit that it was already worn-off and permanently stained, not mentioning that it was much older than its owner.

The gift from Bella, on the other hand... It was _perfect. _Made primarily of a soft, black Dragon leather, except for the cloak, which was made of black cotton. The chest and back parts were magically infused, having an effect of a "bulletproof vest" against mild curses. The sleeves and torso were embroidered with a silver pattern. The set included, obviously, a heavy leather belt with a wand hostler, and two accessories Nordi was most excited about: a knee-high pair of black leather shoes, and a silver half-mask!

Nordi was in a loss for words. All he did was hug Bella. And didn't let go of her for a few minutes.

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' You sure you don't want a help in the train?'

'I think we can manage some snotty brats ourselves. Besides, you're supposed to help Severus.'

Alecto and Amycus had to leave early the following day, as they were assigned to keep order in the Hogwarts Express during its journey.

Snape, Orion, Nordi and Draco departured a couple of hours later, and apparated directly in the middle of the Great Hall (Anti-Apparition wards were put down beforehand by Nordi). There was still a few hours until the students' arrival; the four Death Eaters needed this time to rearrange the castle.

First what they did was to vanish the Four Houses symbols and emblems ornamenting the Great Hall. According to new policy, there be no more Houses and no divisions within Hogwarts, so their symbols were supposed to disappear along with them. Soon the Red, Green, Yellow and Blue emblems and banners were gone, leaving blank, neat walls.

They also changed the arrangement of the four long dining tables of the Great Hall. Up until this point, the tables were standing separately and each of them was assigned to one of the Houses - to such a ridiculous degree, that even sitting at a table other than the one of your House could bring you trouble. Snape decided to arrange the tables into a huge square, and to abolish the regulations assigning each of the tables with a House.

'Headmaster Snape, what about the Dorms and common rooms? How the students' sleeping arrangements will look like?' Orion asked.

'There will be no more than one Dorm and one Common Room. The ones in the dungeons.' Snape answered firmly. 'This is the harder part of our task. Black and Draco are going to help me rearrange former Slytherin Dorms, to make them capable of hosting a larger number of students. As for Exile...'

Snape turned to Nordi.

'Do you know where Gryffindor, Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff Common Rooms are?'

'Yes, sir.'

'I want them to be impossible to enter. I want you to put up the most powerful locking wards you know.'

'No problem, sir. I'll lock and seal them with my own blood.'

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Nordi had about three hours before the Welcoming Feast, so he didn't really had to hurry. He decided to approach the Gryffindor Common Room first and made his way towards the tower.

The portrait guarding the entrance was the Fat Lady. Being woken up by the boy, she eyed him cautiously.

'I thought there is still a couple of hours until you lot start to flood in and bother me.' she sighed. 'Why are the summer holidays always so short, it was so nice to sleep in peace for two months...'

'Look, ma'am' Nordi started (he was unsure how to address the portrait) 'what would you say if I offered you to be left alone... not to be bothered by any students... like, forever?'

The Fat Lady seemed not to comprehend.

'What are you saying, young man? You know what my job is, right? I guard the passageway to the students Common Room. I am bound to be bothered by students.'

'I know,' Nordi tried to be patient. 'I will make this entire Tower unavailable for students. I will make you free of your job, because you won't be guarding anything anymore. You will be left on your own and you wouldn't probably be seeing any student as long as you are hanging here. Unless, of course, you want me to relocate you to some other part of the castle.'

'You could do that?' the Fat Lady blinked at him. 'I mean, locking the entire Tower from students? But...aren't you a student yourself?'

'Actually, I'm a teacher.' Nordi explained. 'My task now is to seal this place and make it impossible to enter. You can stay here and be left alone forever, or you can leave this place in your frames and be moved to some other, more frequented place, if you want company. The choice is yours.'

'Oh no, no!' the Fat Lady said. 'I don't want to be moved to any highly frequented place and I don't want any company. If you would just... leave me here, alone, young man, that would do.'

'I supposed so.' Nordi smirked and drew his Ritual Dagger. He sliced his wrist and drew a large, thick , blood circle within the frames of the Fat Lady's portrait.

'Young man!' she squeaked with outrage. 'You didn't mention that sealing the Tower will involve making me dirty!'

'That's because I don't _make you dirty. _My blood is pure.' Nordi muttered, sketching out Runic symbols within the circle.

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The Sealing Ritual was a more simple than one could think judging by the scale of Sacrifice it required. After getting through with Hufflepuff Common Room (guarded by an enchanted stack of barrels) Nordi was already dizzy and light-headed from the blood loss. He pushed through and made his way slowly towards Ravenclaw Tower. Performing the Ritual there, he had to endure babbling of a very annoying door knocker, which attempted to ask him riddles. As the knocker cut him off with a riddle when he was uttering Ritual incantations, he lost his patience and shot a hex on it (obviously with no result). Afterwards, he had to repeat the entire Ritual all over again, compounding the severity of his blood loss.

He headed back to dungeons, where the rest of the Death Eaters was already done rearranging former Slytherin Dorms. Snape, seeing him, summoned two vials of Blood Replenishment Potion without asking any questions.

Having chugged the second vial, Nordi heard noises from upstairs. The students have arrived.

CRACK! Amycus apparated just beside Snape.

'Did the journey go smoothly, Amycus?' Severus asked.

'Yeah, the journey was peaceful, only boring as hell. Alecto is watching over the kids right now, in front of the Great Hall. Shall we let them in, or...?'

Snape turned towards Draco.

'Draco, please, go and take care of the students. Lead them inside the Great Hall and make them take their seats. We shall step in once they are inside.'

Draco apparated away.

'That's more intimidating, ain't it?' Amycus giggled.

'Not so much for the students, as for the remainings of the faculty, which is openly hostile towards us.' Snape explained.

The noises upstairs went silent; Draco must have led the students inside.

After a short while, the heavy wooden door of the Great Hall opened vigorously with a loud bang.

Five Death Eaters in black leather robes stepped inside, and , following the lead of Headmaster Snape, made their way towards the Head Table.


	4. Electrifying Inauguration Speech

Nordi walked towards the Head Table, swelling his chest proudly in his brand-new, shiny-black robes and tapping his heavy leather military-style shoes on the floor.

The first thing to draw his attention in the Great Hall was the visibly decreased number of students inside. At first, he thought it was just an optical illusion caused by different tables arrangement. However, taking a closer look, he was sure that number of students was reduced by at least one-third comparing with the last school year.

Nordi was aware that Severus hasn't sent any acceptance letters to Muggleborn children, but was that even possible that previously one-third of Hogwarts student population consisted of Mudbloods?

The students sitting in the large square eyed the new teachers carefully. They seemed all unnerved and uneasy. Draco was standing up and watching over them.

As Snape and the new teachers arrived at the Head Table, all the remaining faculty had already been sitting there. As it was supposed, the Death Eaters received a mixture of hateful, disgusted and fearsome looks.

'Severus.' Mcgonagall spoke first, when they took their seats (Nordi slipped between Orion and Alecto) 'I was about to ask you about the altered looks of the Great Hall. At first, I assumed it was some kind of students' prank, but then I learned that the changes happened before students' arrival!'

'I was the one who changed the Great Hall, and I will be the one to change the entire school.' Snape answered simply and came by to the Headmaster's lectern, drawing his wand.

'Snorous.' he uttered, pointing his wand at his wand at his throat.

'Silence.' Severus said with a deep, magically enhanced voice, which echoed within the Hall. The students immediately went silent.

'Many of you is probably wandering about certain changes, that has been made within the Great Hall' he started without any introductions, and turned around for a split second, giving Mcgonagall a meaningful look. 'Therefore, let me enlighten you: this is only the beginning of changes.'

A small commotion started; students started wriggling and whispering to each other.

'Silence!' Snape yelled. 'I want to address firstly our new students, who stepped inside this school tonight for their first time.'

Nordi spotted a bunch of small eleven-year-olds stretching out their necks to see Snape.

'The youngest among the student body have a right to know, that if they were accepted into Hogwarts last year, or any year before, their inauguration to this school would have looked differently than right now.'

Nordi smiled; Snape was about to address Sorting and Houses.

'All the previous years of students before you, had to undergo a so-called Sorting Ceremony before they started attending classes.' Snape went on, explaining. 'And I am sure you have heard from your parents, siblings or older colleagues about the Four Houses, Hogwarts had once been divided into.'

Unnerved whispers filled the Hall.

'Wait! Why are you using a past tense? What does it mean : "had once been divided"? ' a former-Gryffindor asked, standing up from his seat. "The Houses are still a foundation of Hogwarts, aren't they?'

Snape looked at the boy, narrowing his eyes. The entire Hall gasped.

'No, Mr Longbottom.' Snape said through clenched teeth. 'I used the past tense exactly because the Houses belong in the past now.'

He waved his wand, and the boy- Longbottom- squeaked: the golden-red Gryffindor crest on his robes' chest dissapeared, and his tie's colors turned into a plain black.  
Severus waved his wand once again, repeating the process on the rest of the students body: the House emblems and colors were all gone. Now, all the pupils sat in equal, generic, plain black robes.

'As I was saying, before being rudely interrupted' Snape continued, as the students were watching their altered outfits 'there is no more House Division at Hogwarts. As the new Headmaster, having a full approval of the new faculty, I consider the four Houses to be a counter-productive source of conflict. Henceforth, Hogwarts' student body shall be an unity, powered by equal educational goals and by the equal idea.'

'As you may or may not like it' he went on after a short pause 'the former Houses' Common Rooms and Dorms have all been sealed, and are impossible to enter. As the new, united student body, you all will be living in a one enlarged Common Room and in one set of Dorms in the dungeons.'

As it was supposed, loud voices of outrage broke out, especially from the side of former Gryffindors.

'SILENCE!' Snape yelled. 'Because from now on, without Houses, subtracting House Points as a form of punishment is no longer valid, each misbehaving person will receive a detention. I do not think all of you wish to earn a detention on the first day of school.'

The students went silent.

'The second important change that will occur this year, is a substantial change in the educational curriculum. You will attend new set of classes, while some old ones will be discontinued. As you may have noticed, Hogwarts hosts quite a lot of new faculty members this year. May I introduce them...'  
Snape turned to the Head Table.

'Professor Amycus Carrow, who will take the post of Applied Dark Arts teacher.'

Amycus stood up and rose his hand, but no applause occurred; the students were presumably too freaked out by the name of the new subject itself.

'Professor Alecto Carrow, Muggle Studies teacher.' Alecto stood up and also didn't receive any reaction.

'Professor Orion Black, History of Magic.' Orion rose and showed himself timidly. This time, a few students actually clapped; the former History of Magic teacher- professor Binnis- was a ghost, widely disliked for his immensely boring lectures ('Ha, and they think Orion will be any better!' Nordi thought).

'And finally, Professor Nordi Exile, who is taking the position of Combative Dark Arts teacher.' Snape said.  
Nordi stood up and waved, but... received the worst reaction of the four new teachers. The students booed and yelled, clearly not having best opinion about him.

Snape rose his hand, causing them to be quiet.

'Perhaps' he said in silent, sickeningly sweet voice . 'Professor Exile will care to show you a tiny sample of his abilities, in order to resolve your doubts about his competences as a teacher.'

Nordi came by to the lectern, excited by Snape's words. He was about to ask him "shall I curse them?" but Snape leaned over to him first and whispered into his ear:

"Shatter the tables. Powerfully.'

Nordi nodded, stood upright in front of the student body, and rose his hand with outstretched fingers.

Silver streams of bright light shot of his fingers, hitting the four connected tables with a force of a lightening. The impact of the Shatering Curse blasted them apart into small pieces. The students cried out in fear and jumped off their seats, trying to dodge the impact of exploding tables. After a split second, the Great Hall was filled with wooden splinters, and the students found themselves standing in the middle of this mess, staring at Nordi with disbelief.

'By the Dark Lord..' Nordi muttered, admiring the mayhem he had caused. 'I'm not cleaning this.'

Severus spoke again.

'Well, I am sure you are all convinced that Professor Exile is more than capable of teaching you the subject.' he said coldly. 'Now, if you please...'

He lifted his wand and muttered a complex incantation, causing the wooden splinters to rise into the air and group together, connecting to each other. It took him about five minutes to recreate the crushed tables. Students stood and stared at his performance in awe.

'Now, when we - as I suppose - made everything clear, you can take back your sits. May the Annual Welcoming Feast begin.' Headmaster uttered, emphasizing words. He snapped his fingers and freshly mended tables filled themselves with food.

'That was one hell of a show, Nordi!' Alecto said, helping herself to some potatoes. Nordi nodded absently, pondering about the forthcoming problems with the student body.

'Allie, do you know why there is so much fewer students now than throughout the last years?' he asked.

'Severus hasn't sent any Letters to the Mudblood children.' Alecto confirmed Nordi's assumptions.

'However, this is still not enough. If I do my math right, there's supposed to be at least a few dozens non-Mudblood kids more.'

'I've heard' Amycus said 'that a lot of Dumbledore-loving parents forbade their kids from returning to Hogwarts after us taking charge. Also, the there are some Light families of the eleven-year-olds who were about to start school this year, who rejected their kids' Acceptance Letters.'

'That sucks. They are depriving their children of education only because their outlook isn't matching ours. Coming to Hogwarts should be a child's choice, not their parents'.' Nordi muttered.

'I would hunt such parents down and bring the kids here.' Alecto added.

'The Headmaster is going to hold such families responsible and they will face consequences.' Amycus assured. 'He also wasn't aware of the scale of school absence this year. And, after all, our Lord himself emphasizes the importance of education.'

Alecto and Nordi nodded.

The youngest Death Eater couldn't help but notice hostile glances, being shot towards him one by one from the side of students' tables. One of the schoolkids who almost didn't take his hateful, disgusted eyes away from him, was the tall former-Gryffindor boy who talked back to Snape- Neville Longbottom.

Nordi sighed; this was going to be an interesting year.


	5. Fixing The Damage Dumbledore Has Done

The classes started the following day and Amycus, Alecto and Nordi turned out to be the teachers with the busiest schedules : Dark Arts and Muggle Studies were the subjects, that the new curriculum put the most emphasis on.

After the abolishment of the House Divisions, the classes were organized only basing on the students age groups. Unlike before, when the lessons were additionally split into House groups, now all the pupils from a certain year, were attending classes together. In any of the previous years, such a solution would have been impossible due to overflowing classrooms. Now, with the number of students decreased by one-third, that was fairly easy to manage.

Nordi's first class the following day was a class with the fourth-years. The young Death Eater- having taken over from Orion many of his Orphanage's teaching habits- stood casually in front of the wriggling students, leaning against his desk and crossing his arms.

Before he even opened his mouth to speak, he took about a minute to examine the students' facial expressions and the emotions inside their eyes. The students were giving their new teacher a variety of different looks, ranging from hostile, disrespectful and fearful, to unaffectionate. The only person who was expressing a full support was his former buddy from the Orphanage - Cass Exile.

Despite the termination of the Houses' existence, the students in the classroom still made an effort to group themselves in accordance to the former affiliation. Former housemates were sitting in cliques next to each other. Nordi could clearly feel the least of the nasty, hostile looks coming from the ex-Slytherins side. The most of them, obviously, came from the ex-Gryffindors.

It was the time to be straightforward and show the students who is in charge. It was time to show them what is Hogwarts going to be all about from now on.

'Good morning, class' Nordi said, terminating the whispers and small-talks within the classroom. ' I'm not going to make any lengthy, boring introductions. I know what the majority of you are thinking of me as your teacher, and to be honest, I couldn't care less. I was not assigned as a Professor here to get all buddy-buddy with you lot. I'm here to teach you things that are -unlike most of the stuff you've learned so far- actually useful and meaningful. Most of you are probably going to hear about the branches of Magic I'm going to show you for the first time in your lives. You can send a special hereafter thanks for this ridiculous loophole in your education to a certain old fool, who used to be a Headmaster here.'

After this short introduction, most of the class, especially the ex-Gryffindor side, was boiling with outrage.

'Listen, guys. I assume not a lot of you had to personally deal with our _most precious Headmaster, _so not a lot of you are going to understand what kind of person he really was behind his grandfatherly mask. Besides, you can whisper among yourselves, you can conspire, you can hate me as much as you want. But you will not accomplish anything. I'm not here to fight you, I'm here to teach you. It's up to you if you want to learn. If not, the door is this way.'

The students, obviously, didn't seem convinced, but Nordi knew better than to try anymore. They will need some time until they get used to _new Hogwarts. _

The Death Eater went on with the class.

'The topic of today's class is the Cutting Curse. It's in the new curriculum for the fourth year. I know you don't have any textbooks, as any textbooks for the new subjects weren't approved by the Ministry yet, but you won't be needing them. The majority of my classes are going to be Practicals, and if we'll have to touch upon some theory, I'll dictate you a note to write down. Now, look at this training dummie...'

He grabbed the mannequin and pulled it forward for everybody to see.

'This one is a variation of a standard training dummie used during NEWT and OWL exams, however, this one has been tampered with slightly. I have filled it with a red paint, to make our class more... realistic. Now take out your wands...'

He drew his own wand from the hostler- which obviously he had to use in front of the class, as there was no way he could teach them anything wandlessly- and made a round movement in the air.

'Mimic my gesture... good. The incantation is _Sectarius. _Now watch closely.'

He stood in front of the dummie, waved his wand and, using a little more of his Magic than it was necessary to obtain a better effect, he yelled:

'SECTARIUS!'

The effect was electrifying. Four deep, long cuts tore the dummie to shreds, and the red paint splashed all over the classroom, spattering the students sitting in the front rows. A little commotion started; students jumped off their seats, squeaking.

Nordi put his wand back to the hostler, and stretched his hand out towards the pupils.

'SCOURGIFY!' he yelled, leaving them clean of the red paint. 'Alright, it's time for you to show what you've got. We are going to check how big of a damage three years worth of education under Dumbledore left to your Dark Arts talents. Let's see if you're even able to perform this curse. As you can see, there's no more dummies, so you're going to practice... on me.'

Everybody's eyes focused on Nordi in speechless disbelief.

'What's wrong? You seemed to hate me so much, now you are lucky to have an opportunity to express this hatred! I don't have to mention that Cutting Curse is meant as an Offensive spell against living creatures. Therefore, it's much better to practice on a person, especially someone you don't like. The curse is fueled by your rage and hatred. Now come on, line up in front of me and show me the worst in you.'

Nordi considered himself a brilliant teacher at this moment; he found out a way to channel the negative emotions students felt towards him, into a valuable lesson.

The fourteen-year-olds stood up and lined up in front of Nordi, who took off his precious leather Death Eater's robes, staying only in short-sleeved black shirt (the new outfit he got from Bella was way too valuable to expose it to a bunch of clumsy kids practicing Cutting Curse). He had to endure some nasty looks from ex-Gryffindors as they spotted his Dark Mark, but nobody made a comment on it. Presumably they knew by now that almost a half of current Hogwarts faculty consist of Death Eaters.

Each pupil had one try to curse Nordi, but nobody was really successful. Nordi couldn't even blame them, as they used to attend a school ruled by a Light Lord. The most harm anybody managed to cause the young teacher, was a few shallow scratches from ex-Slytherins. As the last person came by, he rose his head just in time to see Cass Exile standing in front of him.

'PROTEGO!' yelled Nordi, shielding himself from Cass' Cutting Curse. If he allowed his childhood friend to perform the spell on him, the effect would have been much more severe than a few scratches. Cass was an Exiles' Orphanage's protégé and he knew Dark Arts.

'What do you think you're doing ?! ' he yelled at Cass.

'You didn't excuse me from performing the exercise!' Cass snarled.

'You could have killed me, you dim-wit! I know you can perform the Cutting Curse; this exercise is meant for those, who have their first contact with Dark Arts today!'

'You should have told me.'

'You should have figured that much out.'

They both burst into laughter, much to the others' surprise.

'Cass, you are excused from doing anything for the remainings of the class!' Nordi said solemnly. 'For the rest of you: those attempts of yours aren't bad. I expected even less of you, concerning that the school has so far been trying to convince you that Dark Arts are something evil, and should be kept as a taboo. I'm desperate to open your heads and convince you otherwise! Now please, line up again; it's time for a second attempt.'

During the second turn, Nordi has gathered much more, deeper scratches than the first time. Even the ex- Gryffindors and ex-Hufflepuffs- people most disgusted by anything connected to Dark Magic- managed to make small dents in his skin.

He must have admitted, that it was much more than he has expected from Hogwarts students.

'Excellent!' he said at the end of the class, genuinely satisfied. 'Despite what I've been thinking, there is a hope for all of you. I don't assign any homework, because I would have to grade it. You are dismissed.'

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As soon as he left the classroom, Nordi met Snape on the corridor.

'How did it go?' Severus asked.

'Better than I expected, Headmaster .' Nordi answered honestly. 'They can be worked upon. I'm slightly concerned about the upper-years, but the fourth years and lower seem to be redeemable.'

Snape spotted bloody scratches on the boy's face.

'What is that?'

'Hogwarts' students' first attempts to perform a Dark spell!' Nordi answered with a genuine pride. He really felt like someone who makes groundbreaking changes within the ancient school.

Snape drew his wand.

'Episkey' he whispered, healing Nordi's wounds. 'It's good that your educational methods are successful, Exile, but nevertheless you shouldn't be walking around like this, you could get an infection...'

'I was just heading to see Orion and...'

'We will go to him together, but before that, I need your help.'

Nordi only now noticed Snape's tension.

'What happened, sir?'

'Come with me.'

They headed to the infamous Gargoyle statue on the seventh floor, which guarded a Headmaster's office. As they entered the room, Snape explained:

'I think this is an independent, ancient Magic that I have no idea about. Nevertheless, according to Minerva, it appeared on the wall just after his death, on its own... And there is no way to get rid of it!'

Nordi froze on the spot as he stepped inside the office: Albus Dumbledore was looking at him from the frames of a huge painting.

'Did the portrait really appear on its own? Didn't Mcgonagall conjure it, or something?' Exile asked, frowning. It would be much like Mcgonagall to ornament the wall with a portrait of her beloved Headmaster.

'No, she didn't. In _Hogwarts: A History _there is a chapter of Headmasters and Headmistresses portraits. There is no need to conjure them; they appear on their own after their deaths.'

'FIENDFYRE!' Nordi yelled, stretching his hand out towards the portrait. The flames washed over the painting, but didn't even leave a scratch.

'REPULSO! CORUSCATIO! FULMEN IGNIS! INCENDIO! BOMBARDA!' the boy attacked the portrait with a long line of curses and hexes, but despite of the great Magical power he has used, he was unsuccessful to damage the painting.

Snape shook his head.

'I've already tried most of the spells known to mankind. This portrait is inviolable.'

Nordi looked at Snape; there was no way his mentor is going to be sharing his office with a man who has been torturing him for sixteen years!

The boy jumped on the couch under the portrait and tried to tear it off the wall manually. He used all the physical strength he had, but the portrait didn't even budge.

Dumbledore gave him his famous annoying look from above his half- spectacles.

'I see you are trying hard in vein, young Mr Exile.' he said quietly.

'SHUT UP!' Nordi yelled and slapped his left hand on Dumbledore's face.' How about this? MORSMORDRE! '

He conjured a green, glowing Dark Mark within the painting's frames. The former Headmaster disappeared instantly.

Nordi turned back to Snape.

'Now he won't be willing to return to the frames, Professor.'

Snape looked at him with wide eyes.

'Good that there is somebody thinking outside of the box.'


	6. The Kinds of Eyes that He Saw

WARNING: a little bit of bad language in this chapter!

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Thousands of years worth of Light Wizards being in charge of Hogwarts, including the last half a century with the Light Lord himself as a leader, left some serious impact the school. The students and the teachers -being Hogwarts graduates themselves- perceived Dark Magic as something morally wrong, something to be ashamed of. Throughout the following months, the new faculty tried to fix this archaic outlook to the bet of their abilities.

Just as Nordi has predicted, the lower age groups of Hogwarts students turned out to be , in a majority, a fairly good material for future Dark Wizards. Although reluctant and apprehensive at first, the younger pupils did made some incredible progress during Nordi's Dark Arts classes. It seemed like if the young Death Eater has unlocked some hidden abilities in those children's minds; letting their inner Dark Aura flow freely and make a salutary influence on their Magical performance. Although Nordi, during a first couple of weeks, let everyone practice mild curses on himself, after some time worth of classes he had to deviate from this way- the freshly discovered Dark Arts talents could have caused him much damage, maybe even kill him, during such exercises.

Nordi's most favorite age group was the first-years. Those kids had clear minds, unaffected by the idea of old Hogwarts and teachings of Dumbledore. They had usually little to none contact with Magic beforehand, so their Magical Affinities were yet to be developed- under Nordi's and Amycus' guideline, they were prone to develop as Dark. What is more, those kids, in majority, had no prejudices against Dark Arts and didn't seem apprehensive or hesitant to use them. Nordi was pretty sure that if some of his first-year students had a chance to grow up in the Exiles' Orphanage, they would most likely be already far beyond the NEWTs level.

However, just like everybody assumed, the upper years were the ones to cause problems.

Mostly sixth and seventh years- not ex -Slytherins, who were now the kings and queens of Hogwarts- but ex-Gryffindors and ex-Hufflepuffs. Those teenagers were in majority deeply affiliated with Dumbledore's ideas. Now, they seemed to take as their point of honor to sabotage the new Hogwarts educational system and its new higher-ups. They always wandered around the corridors clinging to groups based on their former House affiliation- especially former Gryffindors from older years kept strictly together- and shot hateful looks, sometimes even remarks, towards the new faculty members.

The people with the most hostile approach to the changes were members of a former students organization, which used to prosper two years before, during Nordi's initial year at Hogwarts. The organization was found as a grassroots initiative on students' part, during the Hogwarts career of Dolores Umbridge. As Nordi was excused at the time from Umbridge's classes and never really even met the woman, the activity of the organization wasn't any of his business and he didn't really know anything about its origins. Later, he found out that the students within the organization rebelled against Umbridge's poor teaching methods: the Witch didn't apply any practicals during her DADA classes. The organization was created as a form of self-study; the students used to meet and practice spells on their own.

Now it seemed that the organization was again on its feet, and its former members- mostly older ex-Lions and older ex-Puffs - were not only hanging out together, but also inviting new students to their "ranks".

Nordi was internally laughing at the ridiculous contradiction. The organization was founded as a mean against having a gap in education in Offensive and Defensive Magic. Now, when the school finally had the best educational system in this field in hundreds of years, thanks to Amycus and Nordi, the organization has been called to life again.

What is more, the rebelling students seemed to have support of the older faculty members- especially the former Gryffindor Head of House- Mcgonagall. Although the older Witch refused to ever speak with Nordi, Alecto or Amycus- only shooting them vicious looks on the corridors- the young Death Eater could see the way she approached her former protégés. It looked almost like she had a silent patronage over the organization.

Oh, and the organization had an utterly beautiful and vibrant name for itself- "Dumbledore's Army."

As the ex-Gryffindors and ex-Hufflepuffs haven't- up to that point- done anything more serious than whispering during classes and muttering offensive remarks on the corridors, any consequences weren't drawn against them yet.

However, that was soon about to change. Alecto Carrow was the first victim of the so- called "Dumbledore's Army's" rebellion.

That day, Alecto was holding a lecture for sixth- and seventh year of students combined, two classroom away from where Nordi's class was.

Nordi' s lesson was with the third years, and the students practiced the Imperius Curse on each other, trying to overcome the effects of the spell. The entire class was just laughing their heads off at a chubby boy forced to recite medieval poetry under Imperius, when Alecto stepped in.

She was visibly unnerved; her usually calm and relaxed round face was now winced with tension. Nordi spotted tears in her blue eyes and immediately jumped off his teacher's desk.

'Alecto? You alright?' he asked quietly.

'I cannot find Amycus; please come with me.'

Nordi followed her to a large classroom further in the corridor, yells and flying hexes could have been heard from outside.

They stepped inside a small battlefield. The majority of the group was consisting of the members of the so-called "Dumbledore's Army", and they apparently took over the rest of the class. A couple of ex-Slytherins- in one of them Nordi recognized Theo Nott- laid on the ground, stunned. Draco was aiming his wand at Longbottom, and a sixth-year ginger girl yanked Daphne Greengrass' hair. Everybody was screaming and the overwhelming chaos made Nordi blink.

'BOMBARDA MAXIMA!' he yelled, stretching his hand out up to the ceiling. He was careful to make the explosion loud enough to draw everybody's attention, but small enough to be harmless and not cause any damage.

The students went silent; the fighting ones let go of their opponents. They focused their eyes on the Exile standing beside Alecto.

'What, in the Dark Lord's name, is going on here?' Nordi asked.

'You should ask the Blood Traitor here.' Draco uttered through clenched teeth, looking hatefully at Longbottom. The ex-Gryffindor answered him with the same kind of look.

'Longbottom! What the fuck have you done?'

Longbottom only shot Nordi a vicious, hateful look.

'This boy, Longbottom, stood up in the middle of the lecture' Alecto explained. 'He called up upon everybody to sabotage the class, then he and his friends... especially this ginger girl, and the blonde girl right there... started making commotion, a lot of noise, and throwing spells around. Draco tried to help me keep the order; then the fight broke out.'

Nordi's eyes widened. The "Dumbledore's Army" had some audacity. Exile has expected them at the very most to make some unharmful pranks or minor acts of sabotage, but here they were- starting up a fight in the middle of a class.

Nordi's eyes crossed with the eyes of the ginger girl, the one who fought with Daphne Greengrass. The sixth-year made a quick movement, like if she was about to draw her wand.

'Incancerous!' Nordi was faster; his spell tied her up with invisible ropes and made her collapse on the ground. He looked surprised into the girl's green eyes; all he saw inside them was boundless, unlimited hatred and a hint of disgust.

'Who the fuck are you?' he snarled at the girl.

'Ginevra Weasley' Draco answered for her. 'You know Weasleys, the big family of Blood Traitors.'

'Yeah, I remember.' Nordi had a fight with one of the Weasley boys the previous year.

He took his eyes away from the girl, who apparently wished she could burn him alive.

He turned to the other girl, who, according to Alecto, was another leader of the small rebellion. The girl had almost white blond hair and large, surprised eyes.

'Who the fuck are you?' he snarled.

'Luna Lovegood.' the girl introduced herself. 'Shouldn't you be a little bit more polite towards your students, Mr Death Eater?'

Nordi definitely didn't intend to be polite towards anyone, who call themselves a member of the "Dumbledore's Army". The name of the organization itself caused Nordi to boil in outrage; yet now, a group from said organization caused mayhem during a class.

'Draco!' Nordi called upon his friend. 'Do you know her?'

'Lovegood? She used to be in Ravenclaw; her father is a friend of the Weasleys and an old freak, and the girl is a freak herself.'

'The three of you,' Nordi pointed at Longbottom and the two girls. 'are going with us to Headmaster Snape. Enervarte.' he casted a back-to-consciousness spell at Theo and two other boys who have been treated with a Stunner; much to his relief, all of them slowly opened their eyes.

'Alecto, would you please be so kind and escort those boys to Madam Pomfrey? Meanwhile, me and Draco will take Longbottom and the two cheeky ladies to our Headmaster...'

'Take us to Snape, for what?' Longbottom said silently.

'Excuse me?' Nordi snarled.

'I asked, what have we done wrong? Why do we have to go to the Headmaster? For telling the truth? I didn't start any fight; it was Malfoy who attacked me first. All I did was causing a commotion, to prevent people from listening to the outraging nonsense that was coming out of HER mouth!'

Longbottom pointed his finger at Alecto. Draco lifted his wand back at him.

'What the fuck are you talking about, Longbottom? And better be quick with explanations; months worth of detention are awaiting you.'

'I endured the nonsense being told at Muggle Studies up to this point, but today I've had enough .' Longbottom started 'She told us today, that Muggles are filthy creatures, that endanger the Wizarding kind. That mating with Muggles is the worst kind of downgrade for a Witch or a Wizard, not having mentioned that mating with a Muggleborn is, according to her, equally wrong.'

Nordi looked surprised at Neville. Of course Alecto said those things, as it was her job to teach about Muggles. Was that this outraging to the boy, that he decided to cause a mayhem?

'Longbottom' Exile said. 'If you don't like that Professor Carrow is telling the truth about Muggles and Mudbloods, and the danger that they pose...'

'That is NOT the truth!' Longbottom yelled. Twinkles of insane fury appeared in his eyes. 'How can she stand here in front of us and rant about how filthy and disgusting Muggles and Muggleborns are, being herself a coarse, savage, inbred piece of ...'

'CRUCIO!'

Longbottom fell to the ground, squeaking in pain. All the present students gasped; Nordi lifted the curse after thirty seconds, still in disbelief about what did the boy just say about Alecto.

'Care to help me with those three, Draco?' Nordi asked and grabbed Ginevra Weasley by the arm, pushing her out of the classroom. The ginger girl, still tied up, looked like if she wanted to bite the boy.

'Sure.' Draco casted Levicorpus on the unconcious Longbottom. Nordi turned back towards Luna Lovegood.

'Will you go with us obediently, or shall I tie you up like your friend?'

'I'd rather walk on my own, thank you very much.' the blonde girl answered, blinking her huge eyes.

As they made their way to the Headmaster office, Nordi tried to imagine what will Amycus do to Longbottom ,when he learns how disgusting slurs the ex-Gryffindor called his sister.


	7. You Shouldn't Have Said That

Not surprisingly, Amycus was fuming with anger.

The three members of the "Dumbledore's Army" were standing in front of Snape's desk with their hands tied up behind their backs. Draco and Nordi explained comprehensively what happened during the Muggle Studies class. Amycus, who was summoned to the Heasmaster's office, looked like he was barely stopping himself from tearing Longbottom apart with his bare hands.

'How dared you...' Carrow hissed through clenched teeth. He turned to the two younger Death Eaters. 'Where is she? Nordi, where is Alecto?'

'In the Hospital Wing.' Nordi explained. 'Theo Nott and two sixth-year boys have been stunned during the fight. Alecto took them to Madam Pomfrey.'

Snape was eyeing Longbottom and the two girls cautiously; it seemed that it wasn't the first time he had problems with those individuals.

'Do you admit causing chaos during a Muggle Studies class, Mr Longbottom?' Severus asked.

'Yes, I do.'

'Do you admit insulting Professor Alecto Carrow?'

'Yes.'

'And do you really believe that your actions were justified?'

'Yes, I do! That class...'

'We are all aware of your _bright and enlightened _ opinion about Professor Carrow's class, Longbottom.' Snape cut him off. 'In case you didn't listen, Mr Malfoy and Professor Exile have just provided us with a detailed description of the events from the last hour.'

Snape turned to the two girls.

'Do you two admit helping Longbottom to cause chaos, as well as picking up a fight with your fellow classmates?'

Luna Lovegood nodded silently.

The ginger girl- Ginevra- turned her hateful eyes towards Snape.

'Yes, I admit, and I would definitely do that again.'

Severus turned towards Nordi.

'Exile, how the wards situation of the smallest cell in the dungeons looks like?'

Nordi looked at him, surprised.

'Do you mean... the former room of mine, Headmaster?'

Back in his students days at Hogwarts, Nordi used a tiny, long abandoned potions lab as his bedroom. It used to be the safest and most heavily-warded place in the entire castle . And because back then, the Death Eaters at Hogwarts were persecuted and forced to stay in closet, Nordi's room came extremely handy for holding private conversations or storing illegal, Dark Magical stuff.

'Yes, exactly.' Snape said.

'There are none, sir. I have erased everything and put all the wards down in the beginning of this year. I didn't expect we will be using this cramped room anymore.'

'Oh, we _will _use it. Do you think you are able to create protective counter-wards?'

Nordi's eyes widened; he comprehended Snape's conception.

'I'm positive I'm able to, sir. However, I will need the culprits' blood samples.'

Luna, Ginevra and Longbottom turned their surprised faces back towards him.

'Do what you need to do. You can take clean vials from the dresser.'

Nordi decided to pull a small prank on the "Dumbledore Armists". After he summoned three glass vials , he unhooked his Sacrificial Dagger of his leather belt and lifted it to the level of his chest, coming forward to Ginevra .

The girl's eyes went crazy, she jerked and made a few steps back, where she was stopped by Draco's outstretched wand.

'Exile, it would be far less messy if you used a low-power Cutting Curse.' Snape noticed.

'I know, Headmaster.' Nordi grinned, hooking his weapon back to the belt. 'I didn't intend to use the Dagger; I just wanted to freak the Weasley girl out.'

He looked amused at the ginger girl, and received the most hateful and nasty look so far, back.

'Actually, even the Cutting Curse will not be necessary. I just need a few drops of blood from each of you, therefore, a mild Pricking Spell will do.' Exile said to the three culprits. 'I will ask you to stretch your index fingers out.'

Nordi pricked their fingers and collected a little bit of blood to each vial (Longbottom and Weasley looked like they wanted to fry the boy with their eyesight during the process; Luna, on the other hand, looked indifferent).

Exile made his way towards the dungeons, leaving the three troublemakers with Snape, Amycus and Draco.

Protective counter-wards were an efficient way to make a certain place impossible to leave. Of course, impossible only for the people blood-keyed into the wards. It worked basically like a polar opposite of standard protective wards, where a warded space was impossible to enter by anyone but people keyed in. Those counter-wards were widely used in Wizarding prisons before the era of Azkaban.

Putting up counter-wards required practically the same Blood Ritual that was applied when putting up ordinary protective wards, only done backwards. Nordi had to sketch the blood circle counter-clockwise and draw the Runic symbols inside it upside down. He keyed the three teenagers in, adding the drops of their blood and mixing it with his own. The incantations he uttered afterwards didn't have to be said backwards, but slightly differed from the ones of the original Ritual.

He was still kneeling down within the blood circle in his old room, muttering incantations, when Snape and Draco brought the three troublemakers.

'...Exile?'

_'...nusquam effugium, nusquam effugium. _It's done, Headmaster. They will be unable to get out and unable to apparate.'

'Excellent. Toss them inside, Draco.'

The blond boy pushed Longbottom (who was probably twice as heavy as him) to the tiny room, and then almost forcefully made the Weasley girl to step in. Luna, as usual, obeyed without making a fuss. Nordi was actually wondering why is the blonde girl clinging to the bunch.

Before Draco waved his wand to slam the door after them, Nordi caught hating eyes of the ginger girl once again.

'The door really doesn't need locking?' Draco asked hesitantly.

'No. We can step in and out as we please, but they are stuck inside. They won't come out even if you left the door open.' Nordi answered. 'Headmaster, may I go to check on the class that was turned into mayhem?' he asked, turning to Snape.

The older Death Eater nodded, and Nordi rushed to the classroom, intending to see if Alecto was alright and whether she decided to continue her lecture.

He was stunned and shook by what he saw inside.

Some other members of the "Dumbledore's Army" - or perhaps, other students influenced by the group- drew a huge graffiti on a wall. The picture showed overblown caricatures of Alecto and Amycus, portraying them with unnaturally large foreheads and disproportional bodies.

A caption under the picture said : "_Class Topic: Effects of Inbred on the Wizarding Society"_ and underneath: "_How the defective, inbred Magical folks describe blood-mixing as downgrading."_

'By the Dark Lord...' Nordi muttered and yelled "scourgify!", cleansing the wall.

He was disgusted . Calling any Witch or Wizard "inbred" was outraging for him. He was well aware that the majority of old Wizarding families, who cared about blood purity ,had a history of marrying between distant cousins. That has always been a reason for various kinds of people to hate on such traditional families, and insult their children, pointing out their flaws and claiming them to be an effect of inbreeding. That was a "strong argument" for all kinds of Blood Traitors to promote blood mixing and inter-marrying with Muggles and Muggleborns.

However, that usually wasn't the case. Marriage between distant cousins wasn't an incest, and it hardly caused enough inbreeding to produce defected children. This argument was nothing but propaganda.

Although Nordi never had a family and grew up in an orphanage, he always deeply valued the Wizarding families that made an effort to preserve their purity. He always liked listening to Bella's family stories; it was worth of great respect for the House of Black to always try to carefully choose their spouses and cultivate family traditions throughout generations.

'Inbred' was a disgusting slur. What was even more outraging, the students had hardly any reason Nordi could think of, to describe Carrows with this word.

Alecto an Amycus were not defected, neither physically nor mentally. Of course, the older years of former Gryffindors, loathing them from the very beginning, never had a chance to even get to know the siblings.

The Carrows were both straightforward and forthright, but not coarse, like those students liked to describe them.

They were courageous and eager to take action, energetic and full of life.

They expressed their thoughts in a simple and direct way, but they were not vulgar.

Alecto was actually a compassionate and thoughtful person, what everyone refused to notice; and there was no way in hell this insult didn't hurt her. Amycus, although had a thicker skin than his sister, also wasn't an unable of feelings savage, like a part of student body portrayed him.

The only slight sign of possible inbreeding in the Carrows lineage, that Nordi assumed the "Dumbledore's Army" has spotted, was the siblings' slightly irregular facial features. But, by the Dark Lord's name, that didn't make them any deficient. It didn't even make them unattractive or ugly– they just had simpler facial structures and less sharp features than most people. It could or could not have been effect of inbred, moreover- it didn't decrease their value as Wizards and human beings by any means. Nevertheless, the rebelling students obviously picked on the Carrows' appearance to make their rebellion more "credible".

Outraged, Nordi headed to Alecto's staff room on the first floor.

He stopped by the door and clearly heard silent sobbing.

'Allie?' he asked softly through the door. 'Allie, can I come in?'

'Come, Nordi.' The female Death Eater answered in a weak voice.

Alecto sat on her armchair, her eyes were red and wet.

'You… have seen this foul graffiti of theirs, didn't you, Allie?' he asked, looking at her with compassion.

The girl nodded.

'They are locked in a cell in the dungeons.' he spoke in a reassuring voice. 'I created a ward that won't let them outside, even if the castle blasted apart.'

'I…I'm sorry, Nordi, I shouldn't feel so upset about a bunch of snotty brats, but…'

Alecto said, wiping her face.

'It's okay. You have a right to be upset after they insulted you in such a gross way. But I swear by the Dark Lord, that they are going to be punished in accordance with their deeds.'

The girl nodded again, putting herself together.

'Longbottom and those two girls are going to be separated from the rest of student body. You will not have to worry about them acting up during your classes ever again.' Exile added.

Knock, knock. Somebody stood at the door.

'Come in.' Alecto uttered.

Amycus stormed in, furious.

'Nordi, did you lock the brats up?' he asked anxiously.

'Yup, under a strongest ward possible.'

'Very well. Have both of you seen the work of art on the wall?'

'I have, but I've also already wiped it out.' Nordi answered, and Alecto only put her head down.

Amycus knelt by her side, holding her hand.

'Allie, Allie, I swear they will pay for it. Please don't be sad.'

'Exactly, Allie. They won't avoid punishment. Cheer up already.'

Alecto lifted her head and slightly smiled.

'Do you guys have any more classes tonight?' Nordi asked.

'No. This disastrous one was the last class of the day.' Alecto replied.

' How about a trip to Hogsmeade, then? Have you guys seen how beautiful of a day it is outside? I'll grab Orion, 'couse he's way too uptight about the work, and we'll go together.'

The day in reality wasn't extraordinarily beautiful, but Nordi was desperate to lift the girl's mood.

Amycus stood up. 'Great idea.' He offered his hand to his sister and picked her up of the armchair.

However, as they dragged Orion outside of his room and made their way towards the common grounds, they encountered Professor Mcgonagll on the corridor. The older Witch stopped on her way, seeing them.

'Oh, the elite company of our school is departing? Is some Raid involving a Muggle-hunt and tortures

featuring in your plans for tonight?'

'None of your fucking business, old woman.' Amycus snarled.

'Oh, how charming. I have just found out how have _your kind _bravely dealt with misbehaving students today. Although, I am not exactly sure what were they punished for: was it for causing some commotion during a class, or was it for creating the lifelike, realistic portraits of you, Professor Carrow, and your sister?'

Alecto clenched her fists and retreated to her room. Amycus shot Mcgonagall a hateful look and ran after his sister.

'Allie, wait! It's not worth it…'

Orion and Nordi stayed, standing in front of the Transfiguration Professor, eyeing her in disbelief.

'You… shouldn't have said that.' Nordi said to her quietly and followed the Carrow siblings.

Although Mcgonagall has always been hostile towards the Death Eaters part of the faculty, she had never stood up to them openly, yet alone picked up a fight herself.

Nordi was well aware of the reason of the change in her behavior: they had locked up her precious protégé Longbottom and his two friends. However, Mcgonagall didn't realize that she has just started an open war with the Death eaters.

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A/N: What do you guys think about the Neville Longbottom's conflict with the Carrow siblings, approached from the other side? In The Deathly Hallows we read about this conflict, but seen through Neville's eyes. Now we have a little bit of a balance


	8. If Only You Wished To Learn

After the imprisonment of the three leaders of the rebellion, the atmosphere within the castle got thicker and more tense.

The student body clearly divided between Neville Longbottom's supporters- in majority, members of the "Dumbledore's Army", including upper-year ex-Gryffindors as a whole- and those, who supported Headmaster Snape and new order at Hogwarts.

Obviously, the second group was incomparably larger. The new Hogwarts faculty had a powerful backup not only from every single ex-Slytherin, but also from all the younger years students. The young pupils had the fortune of having their minds kept from being tampered with by Dumbledore. If the former Headmaster had lived, he would yet be about to fill their heads with his venom; his death saved those kids from being poisoned by his ideas. Therefore, lower age groups expressed their acceptance, or even an active support, towards the new ideas and welcomed the new school system with open minds. They had no interest in "Dumbledore's Army" or Neville Longbottom's leadership.

The rebelling group, on the other hand, had a support from the old faculty, especially from Mcgonagall. After heated exchange of words with Amycus and reducing Alecto to tears , the older Witch lost all of her previous calm, composed appearances in contacts with the Death Eaters. She stopped withholding her offensive remarks each time she saw one of them. Obviously it worked also the other way around- only Orion was too uptight to talk back to the old Witch- Nordi, the Carrows and Snape didn't have any reason watch their tongues anymore.

Although the rebellious students were left without their leaders, the acts of sabotage kept occasionally happening, performed by Longbottom's supporters.

The acts of sabotage weren't very creative, nor very impressive. Usually they had a form of slogans painted on the walls or some leaflets handed over to younger students on the corridors. Fortunately from the saboteurs, nobody dared to insult Alecto and Amycus the way Longbottom did; they must have learned a lesson from his imprisonment. The slogans on the walls were exclusively some petty phrases like "Dumbledore's Army Recruits Again" , "Down With the Death Eaters" or "Honor to Dumbledore's Memory". Draco and Nordi made a friendly competition for themselves: each night past the curfew they ran across the corridors yelling "SCOURGIFY!" , getting rid of the slogans, and counting how many did they manage to wipe out. The loser had to buy a butterbeer for the loser on the nearest trip to Hogsmeade: at the moment, Nordi was four butterbeers down.

As for the leaflets, Nordi showed the younger pupils how were they supposed to deal with them.

He sacrificed one class with each first-second-and third-years, to teach them a wandless incendio (which wasn't in the curriculum of his subject, but he hoped that Snape would be understanding). After those classes, the majority of the kids managed to set a piece of parchment held in hand alight, without a wand and without burning themselves. As the next day mysterious seventh-year started handing the leaflets over, the children simply set them on fire as soon as the sheets reached their hands. Unfortunately Nordi wasn't there to watch the show (nobody would start giving out leaflets in his presence anyway), but his pupils provided him with a detailed description.

The saboteurs must have comprehended that they do nothing but make fools of themselves. The actions with leaflets and graffiti were soon abandoned. However, it was already more than three weeks since the leaders of the rebellion were locked in the tiny room in the dungeons (being escorted twice a day to the bathroom, and being regularly visited by the house elves bringing their meals). Snape decided of their conditional release due to their calm behavior, nevertheless, he put an emphasis on watching their actions closely from now on.

The day after their release, Nordi was making his way towards his classroom, when he heard a whoosh of flying hex just next to his ear. He turned around, immediately conjuring a shield. In front of him stood pale, scruffy-looking Neville Longbottom.

'You bastard!' Longbottom hissed, coming closer. 'Do you realize that I spent almost a month in this cubby-hole of yours?!'

Nordi rose his eyebrows behind his shield. It seemed like Longbottom has lost all of his self-preservation instinct sitting ''_in this cubby-hole''_, if he wanted to openly fight the young Death Eater like this.

Exile effortlessly disarmed the large boy, caught his wand mid-air and sent a mild Cutting Curse towards his knees. Longbottom cried out and fell on the floor, where Nordi tied his hands up behind his back with a well-aimed Incancerous.

Nordi grabbed the older boy by his hair and lifted his head up.

'What do you want from me, Longbottom?'

'W…what were those w…wards?' Neville stuttered. 'I … I almost went i…insane trying to w…work them out! _Three weeks long! _ W..we just w..wanted to get out, the girls were c..c..crying…'

Nordi sighed.

'Look, Longbottom.' He started, speaking slowly, like one would speak to a small child. 'How did you expect to work out Blood Wards, which fall into the category of the Darkest branch of Magic to exist, if you cannot even hold your wand properly? As you know, Hogwarts has changed, changed so much, that you could learn to create and take down such wards, if you only wanted. I could teach you. I, Amycus, Alecto and Orion could teach you many things, if you just wished to learn, instead of sabotaging our efforts.'

'No. This is not Hogwarts. I will not study Dark Arts!'

_By the Dark Lord, what a moron, _Nordi thought.

Still holding a tight grip on Longbottom hair, Exile uttered:

'Tell me, Longbottom: throughout those three weeks, when you were so desperately trying to get rid of my wards, didn't such an idea occur in your mind? Didn't you figure out that submitting and started to cooperate would be the easiest and fastest way to get yourself, and your two precious friends, out of imprisonment?'

Neville jerked and hissed.

'Didn't you listen? I've told you that I will never accept you guys as my authorities, yet alone join your side! I will not acknowledge the Hogwarts new order and I will not perform Dark Arts!'

'But you do realize that you are in a marginal minority, don't you, Longbottom? Unlike you, most of the students have open minds about this. They learn Dark Arts and they make a huge progress; at this point they couldn't imagine returning to old Hogwarts, with its prejudices and restricted accessibility of knowledge. And they are correct -because who doesn't want to study new, powerful and useful spells, only because they were labeled with no reason as "evil"?'

'I don't!' Longbottom yelled

Nordi sighed; this boy has been so deeply indoctrinated, that he almost felt bad for him.

'Longbottom, you have a potential, you are pure-blooded, you are courageous. See, you could make an excellent Death Eater .Give it some time. Give it a thought, but your own thought- not Dumbledore's. '

'HOW DARE YOU SAY HIS NAME! YOU, WHO WERE IN A BUNCH WHO KILLED HIM!' the boy yelled suddenly. 'I WILL JOIN YOU WHEN HELL FREEZES OVER!'

And then Longbottom spat in Nordi's face.

Nordi didn't even bother to use any Magic; he just started punching the ex-Gryffindor in the face, as hard and as fast as he could. He felt bones breaking under his knuckles, he felt Neville's blood and saliva all over his fists…

'DEPULSO !'

That was a surprise. A powerful repelling charm sent the Death Eater towards a wall like a ragdoll.

Nordi's heart started pounding faster with anger, when he saw who casted the spell : Minerva Mcgonagall.

Fortunately for Nordi, it's been a long time since he stopped pampering with the old Witch.

Still lying on the floor, he stretched his hand out and sent a powerful, non-verbal Lightening Curse towards her. Silver threads shot out of his fingers and jolted through her body like electric current.

Mcgonagall fell on her knees, shaking.

'You know, Longbottom, better have a chat with your former Head Teacher here, than with me. You're both worth each other; and as for my part, talking to you pisses me off. It reminds me of talking to a toddler who comprehends only the things he wants to comprehend.'

Having said that, Nordi left Neville and Mcgonagall in the otherwise empty corridor and ran to his class, which he was already late for.

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'I should lock him back.'

'Yes, sir, but it's kind of couner-productive. Those weeks in imprisonment only deepened his hatred towards us.'

It was later that night; Nordi sat in the Snape's office; after describing to him events from that day, they exchanged opinions about Longbottom.

'So do you suggest he has a chance to redeem?'

'I don't know, sir.' Nordi answered sincerely. 'But I must confess that when I was beating him up after he spat on me, I didn't feel hatred towards him. I felt hatred only towards the old coot, who led the boy to such a state. I wish there could be a way to reverse Dumbledore's indoctrination.'

'This is possible, but very difficult.' Snape admitted. 'Although I agree with the Longbottom boy being a valuable, pure-blooded Wizard, I am afraid there may be not much we could do for him. He will most probably stay in the state of mind that Dumbledore left him in, standing against us until the end.'

Nordi hated to admit it, but Snape was right.

'Pity. Dumbledore created a bunch of perfect soldiers for himself.' Nordi lifted a piece of parchment with "Dumbledore's Army" former membership list. 'Too bad none of those soldiers realizes that for Dumbledore, they were merely steps in his ladder to power.'

Snape nodded, lost in his thoughts.

In unison, they looked up at the portrait- once depicting Dumbledore; now, after Nordi's "treatment"- representing a Dark Mark.

'Do you also like the new painting, sir? ' Exile asked with a smile.

'I do. Its symbolism is clear. It represents our victory.'

'It helps to keep spirits up, doesn't it?'

'Obviously.'

Nordi casted a tempus; it was already quite late at night.

'Headmaster, if you don't mind…'

'Go to sleep, Exile. You have been through a lot today.'

However, as Nordi made his way towards the entrance, he spotted in a corner of his eye a rapid, but barely noticeable movement; it looked like an invisible objects flying through the air. Nordi frowned; Dumbledore used to keep plenty of eccentric, barely known Magical objects in his office, but Snape claimed to have burned all of this crap with Fiendfyre.

'Sir, are you sure you've gotten rid of all the funny stuff the old coot kept here?'

'I am pretty sure. Why?'

'REVELIO !' Nordi yelled, stretching his hand out towards the spot where he noticed the sudden movement.

His eyes widened in utter shock.

In front of him stood ,very surprised, Luna Lovegood in her striped pajamas.


	9. Visiting The Campsite

'What are you doing here, by the Dark Lord's name?!' Severus hissed, eyeing the blonde girl in utter shock. Nordi was too stunned to even produce a word.

'I needed to get to the Headmaster's office.' The girl answered simply. 'So, I followed Professor Exile, and entered together with him.'

The two Death Eaters stared at her in disbelief with widely opened eyes.

'Alright, Miss… Lovegood, would you care to explain why did you need to get to my office?' Snape emphasized each word; Nordi was unsure whether his mentor was more enraged, more shocked or more clueless.

Luna tightened her lips, visibly reluctant to give an answer.

'She's clearly here on behalf of this… "Dumbledore's Army", sir.' Nordi spat the name of the organization like a swearword; he hated this name as much as he hated organization itself. 'Aren't you, Lovegood?'

Luna looked him in the eyes; it was obvious that she won't talk on her own will.

'Perhaps you can explain those Glamours of yours.' Nordi changed the topic. He was genuinely curious about them. Luna's Glamours were so strong and so perfectly performed, that if the girl hadn't made the mistake of moving, he wouldn't have been able to spot her.

'My Daddy is a Glamours Master' Luna explained. 'He's been teaching me how to Magically disguise myself since my youngest years. Therefore, I was assigned for this task…'

'What is this task of yours?' Snape asked. The girl didn't answer.

'Why did they send you here, Luna? What did they make you do? And why are you following them?!' Nordi raised his voice; he had more than enough of this unbelievably annoying "Dumbledore's Army".

'Too much questions, not enough answers, Exile.' Snape muttered through clenched teeth. Nordi noticed the Headmaster slowly putting his hand to his robes' pocket; the boy thought , that Snape intended to draw his wand and curse the girl. Instead, the Professor pulled out a small glass vial, and -within a split second- pulled Luna's head back by her hair and poured the vial's contents into her mouth.

'Exile, help me!' Snape yelled impatiently, holding tight the wriggling girl's head.

Nordi jumped forward to them and gripped the girl's throat, trying to be gentle enough not to leave it bruised. Luna swallowed the Potion.

'Veritaserum?' Nordi asked.

'Yes.' Snape answered and leaned forward to the girl, waiting for her to open her eyes.

'Can you hear me, Miss Lovegood?'

'Yes, I can.' Luna said silently; her eyes were blank. Veritaserum Potion was working.

'What is the assignment that you have received from your friends?'

'Godric Gryffindor's sword.' Luna answered in an absent, indifferent voice. 'I came to steal it.'

Snape's eyes widened.

'Headmaster! What is she talking about?'

'WHO commanded you to steal Gryffindor's sword?' Snape uttered.

Luna budged slightly.

'Nobody. No one _commanded_ me.' She said plainly.

Snape looked at her impatiently.

'Alright, if so, who asked you to get this sword? Was it Neville Longbottom? Was it Ginevra Weasley? Anyone from the so-called "Dumbledore's Army?"

'Neville gave me the assignment to sneak in hear and steal it. However, he is not the one who needs the sword.'

Snape looked the girl in the eyes.

'Who needs the sword, Miss Lovegood?'

Luna's eyes had no expression.

'Harry Potter.'

Snape gasped; Nordi felt more and more confused. Harry Potter had been involved in the events on the Astronomy Tower last summer, and he didn't come back to Hogwarts afterwards.  
After the Dark Lord had taken over the Ministry of Magic, Potter became an "Undesirable Person", as an iconic "hero" who repeatedly stood up to the Dark Lord. Potter was probably currently in some kind of hideout; why could he possibly need a sword? And how did Luna and Longbottom intended to pass it on to him, if nobody knew of his wherabouts?

'Sir, did the old coot use to keep this sword here? I remember a sword in a gablot from last year, but obviously the office is now arranged differently…'

'Exile, this sword… The old coot kept it here, yes, and his wish was for Harry Potter to inherit it...'

'That would confirm Luna's words, but why did the old coot want this guy to have it?'

Just like any other Hogwarts student, Nordi noticed Harry Potter's affiliation towards Dumbledore. They used to spend together quite a lot of time (causing many tastless jokes to circulate among the students) . Some people, including Nordi and Snape, realized that what the old coot did, was nothing but grooming the boy, in order to bend him to his will and use him for his own benefits later on. Of course, Harry Potter remained ignorant about this fact until the very end. He saw Dumbledore as his beloved authority figure- what he has showed very clearly after the events from the Astronomy Tower. It would't have been by any means surprising if the old coot had left some of his stuff for the boy to inherit. Nordi wouldn't even be surprised if Dumbledore had left Potter everything he had owned. After all, as far as Exile knew, Dumbledore had no wife, no heir and no close family, and judging by his twisted personality, he didn't have many friends either.

However, why this damn sword of all things? What was so special about it?

'Listen, Exile, because this might be very important. I didn't realize anything earlier like I should have. I wasn't able to connect the dots.'

Snape took a deep breath.

'The old coot made, as you say nowadays, a _huge fuss_ about this sword. He genuinely wanted Potter to inherit it, as far as I understood, Dumbledore wanted either Potter or himself to own it, not anyone else. However, later on I have noticed a twin sword appearing in the office; a credible replica. The old coot prepared it in case of people from the Ministry coming with intention to take the sword- as an ancient, valuable Artifact. The original sword is hidden in a space behind a portrait; and as for the copy… I have burned it down with Fiendfyre together with tons of other useless stuff the old coot kept here.'

Nordi gasped.

'I see the old coot has gone through a lot for a piece of metal. But do you know why did he want either Potter or himself to have the sword? I know that Potter used to be his protégé, but even though, his fixation on this seems unbelievable.'

'That is the most important part, Exile. Do you remember the ring you have taken from Dumbledore here last year?'

'The Dark Lord's ring? Of course, I do.'

'And Rawenclav's diadem you've found later on?'

'Yes.'

'I think that this sword is somehow affiliated to those objects.'

Nordi's eyes widened.

'Do you think that the sword might be a Horcrux?'

'I do not think that, but we can prove it here and now. You can recognize a Horcrux, can't you?'

'Yes, I can. I can feel them as clearly as I feel a fellow Dark Wizard.'

Snape stood up and came by to the wall when the Founders' portraits were hanging. Trying not to wake its resident up, Snape pulled slightly the frame of Salazar Slytherin's portrait. The painting budged and moved to the side, revealing a small storage area. Snape reached his hand inside it, and pulled out the sword. Nordi smiled at the irony: Severus has hidden Gryffindor's sword behind Slytherin's portrait.

The headmaster handed the sword to Nordi. It was a finest piece of Goblins' forge work; its blade was heavy and sharp, and its golden handle contained shiny ruby gems.

However, magic-wise, Nordi felt nothing within it. It's owner's traces of Magical Aura were long gone, and-unlike a Horcrux- it definetly didn't hold a Dark Wizard's signature within.

'It's not one of the Horcruxes, sir.' Nordi declared.

Snape gasped.

'I assumed so. I believe that this sword has a power to destroy a Horcrux.'

They sat in silence for about a minute. Luna swayed on her chair, looking at the ceiling.

'And…Sir, the old coot wanted Potter to have, because…?'

'I have connected the dots only now, Exile. He gave Potter the assignment to destroy Horcruxes.'

Nordi felt his blood running cold. WHAT did the old coot do?!

'Luna!' Exile yelled at the girl. 'What do you know about the Horcruxes?'

'Nothing, Professor Exile.'

Nordi looked at Snape in confusion.

'She tells the truth. Veritaserum works for at least an hour.' Severus declared.

'Then we must ask about the most suspicious and curious thing.' The young Death Eater turned to Luna again. 'How did you guys know that Potter is in a need of this sword, and how did you guys plan to pass it on to him?'

As an answer, Luna pulled a small object out of her pajama's pocket. Nordi's eyes widened; he had an idea about what that was. He jumped forward to the blonde girl and ripped it out of her hand.

'Two-way mirror!' he yelled with satisfaction. Snape stood up to take a closer look.

Nordi looked in the small mirror and… dropped it on the floor with a scream. Through the mirror, a pair of twinkling, light blue, loathsome eyes were looking at him. He couldn't have mistaken those eyes with anyone else's.

'Who did you see?!' Snape yelled.

'The old coot!' Nordi hissed, still in shock.

'How is that possible?' Snape muttered, but soon his eyes twinkled with understand. 'He enchanted this mirror… it works the same way as a Magical portrait does.'

Nordi looked at the blonde girl.

'I'm sorry, Luna, I know this mirror belongs to you, but I have to destroy it. FIENDFYRE!' he yelled, pointing at the small item.

Fortunately, the Cursed Flames were enough to melt the mirror into a shapeless pap.

'Luna' Nordi said, sweating from the wave of emotions. 'Did the old coot… I mean ,Professor Dumbledore… disclose, to you guys, his "Army"… Harry Potter's current location, so you can bring the sword to him?'

'Yes, he did.' Luna answered.

Nordi's eyes widened. He could feel drops of sweat from his forehead running down his face. He jumped forward to the girl and grabbed her by the hand.

'Take me to him!' he ordered. 'Side-along apparate me! Now!'

Luna didn't even budge, Nordi frowned.

'Veritaserum Potion won't make her obey you, Exile.' Snape noticed. 'It only makes her tell the truth.'

'Oh, that's right… IMPERIO!' Nordi yelled, taking charge of the girl's mind.

_Take me to Harry Potter, take me to Harry Potter, take me to Harry Potter…_

He could feel the girl slightly fighting the curse, but he made it to strong to resist. He could feel Luna's fingers squeezing tightly on his hand, and felt a familiar jerk of Apparition.

The Apparition went the same way, as during the Raid on Auror Bone's house the previous year, when Bella side-along apparated him to the estate.  
Nordi could feel his body bouncing off from a hard surface, and landed painfully on the ground, side-by-side Luna.

They found themselves in a forrest. Judging by the kinds of trees and unfamiliar surroundings, it was not the Forbidden Forrest. This one consisted mostly of deciduous trees. The air smelled of resin.

'Luna!' Nordi snarled, feeling more and more confused. 'Where the fuck are we?'

'Forrest of Dean, Gloucestershire.' Luna recited.

Nordi sighed and looked at the protective hemisphere they've just bounced off.

'Wards! Unbelievable! ' He snarled impatiently, knowing what that meant: he is going to have to spill quite a lot of his own blood tonight.  
'By the Dark Lord's name… Repelling ones and disguising Glamours …' he muttered to himself. 'How was Potter able to put up these…? Or maybe he's in a company of more skilled friends? Luna?'

He turned back to the girl; Luna broke herself free from the Imperius Curse during his distraction, and it seemed like Veritaserum has worn off too.

'Incancerous!' he uttered immediately, tying the girl's hands and feet up. 'I'm sorry, Luna, but you're kind of a drag at the moment. I have to focus…'

Luna watched with her huge eyes, as Nordi sliced his wrist with a Cutting Curse and started encircling the warded space, leaving the bloody trail behind him.

He walked around the protective hemisphere, squeezing his bleeding wrist and focusing on leaving an equal trail, when Luna spoke:

'You are… quite dedicated about all of this, aren't you?'

Nordi budged at her words, not stopping his work. He decided that it was a good opportunity to examine the mysterious girl; he actually felt bad for Luna. She was clearly manipulated into being part of the "Dumbledore's Army." Although, unlike Neville, she didn't seem like a victim of the old coot's child grooming, she seemed like a victim of an ordinary peer pressure. She was an example of a person who had no motivation or reason to partake in the fight, but was forced to get involved by their selfish colleagues.

'Yeah, that's my Cause, but I was actually wondering about you. ' the boy answered. 'Why do you cling to that people? You know you have a choice, don't you? You are an individual person, not "Dumbledore's Army's" pawn.'

'Neville and Ginny are my friends' Luna answered plainly. 'So is Harry, and the others. They are my first friends I've ever had.'

Nordi focused on his blood-covered hand. He was unsure how to answer; he felt even more sorry for this girl.

'You know you can have nice friends on my side, too, right? You're a valuable young Witch, don't sentence yourself for a life by their kind's side.'

'Professor Exile.' Luna said seriously. 'I'm afraid I don't trade friends.'

Nordi decided that he must postpone this conversation for some other time, because he was done with encircling the warded space with blood.

'Expleo, expleo, expleo, expleo, expleo, repeat five times, liquesco.' He muttered upon the circle. The bloody trace started glowing red, shooting some light on the dark surface of the forrest. The repelling ward disappeared.

'I'm going inside the Glamour' he informed Luna. 'Stay here and wait for me.'

'I'm tied up, Professor.' Luna noticed.

Nordi crossed the disguising ward and all he saw was a small tent; looking like one for a single person. He smiled to himself, and jumped forward, stepping inside.

'WAKEY, WAKEY, POTTER! ENERVARTE!' he yelled, mimicking Bella's usual style.

However, he froze on the spot, seeing the tent's interior: it actually wasn't even a tent. It was a small flat, with a three-beds bedroom and a tiny kitchen.

And apart Harry Potter, there were two more people inside: the Weasley boy Nordi had once a fight with, and a Mudblood bushy-haired girl. The three of them, waken up from deep sleep, stared at Exile with disbelief.

'By the Dark Lord, what of a campsite did you three make here?' Nordi asked, confused. 'What the fuck are you up to? You're not exploring the Dean Forrest, I suppose?'

Not surprisingly, the three wands of Potter and his friends were immediately aimed at the Death Eater. Nordi conjured a powerful shield, repelling a laundry list of hexes and curses aimed at him.

Nordi had no time to play with them; if those three were in possession of a Horcrux, he had to find it immediately and take it off their hands.

He rose his left hand up, stretching his fingers out, and yelled 'DEPULSO!' ,sending the three teenagers flying into three different directions. He made sure the spell was powerful enough to eliminate all of them of action for at least thirty seconds.

He calmed his breath down and focused on the Magical Aura in the room. Potter, Weasley and the girl all radiated a not very strong, still under-developed, but one-sidedly Light Aura. Nevertheless, he could feel the familiar Dark stain, and a Dark Magical signature, from the Weasley boy's side.

Before Potter or the Mudblood had a chance to react, he jumped forward to the ginger and lunged at him, tearing apart his Muggle sweater- much to the boy's utter shock.

'Show me what you hide there, Blood Traitor…' he muttered more to himself than to Weasley.

'HA!' he yelled in satisfaction, tearing a small locket off the ginger boy's neck. He couldn't be mistaken: that was the object that radiated the Dark Aura.

He let go of Weasley and jumped back, lifting the locket high for the trio to see.

'Care to explain me why the fuck are you guys toying with something that clearly doesn't belong to you?' he snarled, and conjured his shields again under another flood of hexes.

'Before I leave! ' he yelled, to make his voice through the whoosh of flying spells. 'The petty mirror of yours won't work anymore, so don't even bother using it! Also, don't bother to try contacting Luna, Longbottom, or any other Hogwarts student, because they won't be helping you!'

Still shielding himself, he jumped off from the tent and ran through the Glamour wards, straight to tied-up Luna. He heard hexes flying next to his ears, when he lifted his shield to grab the girl by the hand and side-apparate her back to Snape's office.


	10. Redeeming Luna

Nordi apparated inside of the Headmaster's office, holding the tied-up Luna in his arms. Her body was surprisingly light; he effortlessly carried her across the room and laid down on the couch.

Snape was awaiting them, very pale. Once he saw Nordi, he jumped off his seat.

'Exile, what happened there? Why are you covered in blood?!' he hissed.

Nordi pulled the locket out of his robes' pocket and handed it over to Snape. The Headmaster gasped; his eyes widened in horror.

'I took it from Potter, sir.' Nordi said. 'He's really on this assignment from the old coot. He, the Weasley guy and the Mudblood girl are on a campsite in the Forrest of Dean.'

'He's really… brainwashed enough… to have taken a suicidal assignment with zero chances of success… Not only him, but Weasley… and the Mudblood, too… unbelievable.' Snape whispered.

'I agree, sir, but brainwashed people tend to be really stubborn to reach their goals, sometimes even fanatical. The most important thing for us at the moment is to make all the Horcruxes safe. The old coot manipulated Potter and his friends into finding and destroying them, so they will do anything in their power to fulfill his wishes. If more Horcruxes are spread around the country, they are in danger.' Nordi said firmly.

'We are going to the Headquarters. Now.' Snape decided and grabbed Exile by the shoulder, preparing for side-along Apparition. Nordi looked hesitantly at Luna lying on the couch.

'What about her?' he muttered. 'Sir, I think it's safe enough to let her go for now.'

Snape looked at Luna.

'She can't do any damage anymore.' Severus agreed. 'She can return to her Dormitory, but, nevertheless, she won't avoid a punishment for today's behavior.'

'Relashio.' Nordi uttered, breaking the Magical chains that kept the girl tied-up. 'Go to bed, Luna.'

The blond girl eyed him cautiously, making her way to the door. Before she stepped out, Nordi stopped her.

'Oh, and Luna?' the girl turned her head back towards him. 'In case you have any trouble of the part of your…_friends…_for helping me tonight, please don't hesitate to come to me.'

He saw the girl nodding slowly, before he felt the jerk of side-apparition.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Ten minutes later, Nordi and Snape knelt on the floor in front of their Master.

'Rise, both of you.' Lord Voldemort said.

The Death Eaters picked themselves up from the ground.

'What brings you here so late at night?' the Dark Lord asked.

Nordi pulled the locket out and handed it to him.

Voldemort's crimson eyes darkened. The expression of shock and disbelief changed his serpent-like face.

'My Lord, this locket was in possession of Harry Potter.' Nordi said. 'We believe that he was attempting to destroy it, acting under a command from Dumbledore.'

'Dumbledore?!' the Dark Lord hissed. 'Dumbledore is dead!'

Nordi opened his mouth to explain, but Snape put a hand on his shoulder, giving him a sign to be quiet.

'My Lord, please let me explain. I believe that Dumbledore had left a certain assignment for the Potter boy before he died. I haven't figured it out earlier like I should have, but now, all is matching perfectly. The old coot wanted the boy to destroy all your Horcruxes.'

Voldemort gasped in fury. Nordi was mildly scared that he might start throwing curses in his uncontrollable anger, but- fortunately- he managed to calm himself down by taking deep breaths.

'My Lord.' Nordi said silently. 'I believe the Horcruxes are in danger. Potter may be just a mediocre Wizard, but he is a fanatic, which Dumbledore made him to be. If the old coot told Potter to jump into the fire, he would jump. If he told him to hunt for the Horcruxes, he would do anything he can to do it. I think it's better to gather all the Horcruxes in one place, and keep them under some powerful wards to make them safe.'

The Dark Lord encircled his desk and came by to a small, heavily warded dresser, which Nordi remembered from the last year.

He opened it; Nordi was relieved to see the ring and the diadem, safe and intact.

'Bellatrix.' The Dark Lord hissed. 'Bring me Bellatrix, Exile.'

'Y..yes, my Lord.' Nordi uttered, surprised. He apparated away, appearing in front of Bella's bedroom.

Exile knocked at the door, and in a split second , he found himself tightly embraced by Bella's arms.

'Nordi-boy… Nordi-boy, I missed you so much…'

Nordi gave her back the hug; the tenderness towards her made his eyes filling up with tears.

Bellatrix let go of him and eyed him from head to toes; she frowned.

'Tell me, Nordi-boy, why do you always have to be covered in blood when I see you? Look; you've made your brand-new outfit dirty. Scourgify.' He waved her wand to clean Nordi's robes; he smiled.

'Thanks, Bella. But we'll catch up later; the Dark Lord wants to see you.'

Bella rose her eyebrows in surprise.

'Does he? If so, let's go, Nordi-boy.'

She grabbed him by the hand and side-apparated him back to Voldemort's office.

'Bellatrix' the Dark Lord said as soon as he saw her; 'I need the golden cup; the one that is stored in your Gringott's vault. Go and get it. Apparate to the Diagon Alley. Now.'

Bella's dark eyes widened in surprise, but she bowed her head.

'Yes, my Lord.' she said and disappeared with a crack.

_That means that one of the Horcruxes is hidden in Bella's vault, _Nordi thought.

'Severus.' Voldemort said. 'How did you find out about the assignment that Dumbledore left to Potter?'

Snape explained comprehensively what had happened that night in his office, when Luna attempted to steal the sword. He repeated everything she had said during interrogation under Veritaserum, and described Nordi's "visit" in the Potter's hideout.

The Dark Lord sighed and ordered them to sit on conjured chairs. He took his seat behind his desk and looked at them.

'Considering Dumbledore making that… unexpected move, I need to talk to you. I will disclose to the two of you a piece of information, that was not meant to be known by anyone.'

Snape and Nordi leaned forward on their chairs; Nordi could feel his palms sweating.

'My current priority is keeping the Horcruxes safe and intact, therefore, you should know the identity of the rest of them.' he said. 'Helga Huffelpuff's cup, which Bellatrix will hopefully bring here, is one of them. Another one lies within the body of my familiar, Nagini.' He pointed at the sleeping snake.

Nordi jerked. That was the reason Nagini was able to use Legilimency on Orion last year!

'Apart from Nagini, there is one more Horcrux. The last one. The one that I created unwillingly and accidently.'

Nordi's eyes widened. Unwillingly and accidently? Was that even possible? Creation of a Horcrux required an inbelievably complex Ritual.

'The last Horcrux lies within Harry Potter himself.' Voldemort finally said.

Nordi understood. Everyone knew the story of the boy-who-lived; probably that night, when the Dark Lord attempted to kill Potter, all the requirements to create a Horcrux were accidently met.

'Therefore' Voldemort went on. 'If Potter knows about it… If he knows about the Horcruxes… If the old coot knew about them… One of my priorities must be to get the boy. He must not be killed nor harmed. I want him safe and intact, in the Headquarters, as soon as possible.'

Nordi lifted his head suddenly, and looked straight in the crimson eyes. The idea he's just hit upon was crazy, but could prove itself brilliant.

'My Lord' he said. 'We could lure Harry Potter to Hogwarts.'

Snape and Voldemort looked at him surprised.

'I mean, he is a fanatic' Nordi hurried to explain. ' If we give him a false trail, saying that all of the Horcruxes are stored inside Hogwarts, he will come straight to our hands. He is well aware that Hogwarts is now _our_ fortress, but in his blind loyalty to Dumbledore, he will disregard it. What is more, a trail suggesting that the Horcruxes are in the school, is believable and credible, because they are_ supposed_ to be there. I mean, Potter doesn't know that I found the diadem last year. The same goes for the ring; the old coot kept it at school, so Potter might believe that it's still there.'

Snape looked at his protégé in confusion.

'All of that is correct, Exile. However, I fail to understand what benefit do you see in luring Potter to Hogwarts.'

'I mean, we could always hunt him down in the forrest, that would be fairly easy' Nordi said quickly. 'However, following Potter's possible train of thought: Hogwarts is our fortress, so he won't be stupid enough to storm it alone. He will engage his friends of this so-called Order of the Phoenix in his mission. He will bring them to school with him. Obviously, we are going to have the high ground, and we will crush Order of the Phoenix into pieces. Getting rid of the Order, we will get rid of our most powerful and well-organized enemy.'

The Dark Lord looked at Nordi; the boy could tell that he liked the plan.

'My Lord, of course when the battle breaks out, we will capture Potter, making sure not to hurt him. When the battle is over and Order is crushed, we will escort the boy to you.'

Snape frowned.

'There is one issue, Exile: how do you intend to give Potter the false trail? For him to believe it, he must be told it by someone he trusts.'

'Luna.'

'What?'

'Luna Lovegood, the girl who attempted to steal the sword, sir.'

'I know, Exile.' Snape snarled impatiently. 'But how do you want to convince her to go and lie to Potter? Do you want to cast Imperius on her again?'

'No.' Nordi answered. 'Sir, I think… I believe that I might convince her without Imperius.'

'That's to risky, Exile.' Snape said firmly.

'If I won't succeed, we can Imperio her, sir. However, I want to try. I want to give her a chance. I'm not so bad at making people switch sides.' Nordi said in a pleading tone.

'Yes, and Neville Longbottom is a prime example.' Snape said mockingly. Nordi blushed.

'Enough.' Voldemort cut them off. 'I made my decision: Exile will try to redeem said girl, and if he fails, he will use the Imperius Curse on her, or on any other friend of Potter. This person is going to present Potter with a false trail. I will wait for your report about the success of that mission.'

'Yes, my Lord.' The two Death Eaters answered in unison.

Voldemort nodded.

'My Lord' Snape said. 'If I may ask you about one more issue… Let us say, that Exile's plan succeeds. If we defeat the Order an capture Potter… My Lord, I must honestly admit, that the boy is problematic. He is infected with Dumbledore's lies and manipulations, and you, my Lord, are the one who he hates most. His only wish is to fight you. However, as a Horcrux, he cannot be killed or even harmed. I assume you will have to keep him imprisoned for the rest of his days.'

Nordi suddenly comprehended something; he looked up and met the Dark Lord's crimson eyes. In this moment, they understood each other without a word. Exile grinned.

'No.' he said shortly.

Snape frowned and gave him a surprised look.

'There is another way, Severus.' Voldemort said.

Snape looked at him sheepishly.

'Another way… my Lord?'

'Reversed Ritual.' Nordi explained.

'However, Exile, this is an unbelievably long and painful process. And requires an enormous Sacrifice.'

Nordi clenched his teeth.

'I know, my Lord.'

Snape looked at the two of them in confusion.

'My Lord, does that mean that there is a Ritual that can… extract the Horcrux out of Potter's body?'

'Yes, there is. A dangerous, painful counter-ritual.' Voldemort answered.

Snape eyed Nordi cautiously; he must have noticed a twinkle of determination in the boy's eyes.

'My Lord, do I assume correctly, that Exile is going to assist you during this Ritual?' he asked cautiously.

'A counter-ritual is impossible to perform by one person, Professor' Nordi explained. 'The amount of blood that is required as a Sacrifice makes it impossible. One person would bleed out before the Ritual was over.'

'Oh.' Snape said shortly, still in disbelief.

CRACK!

Bellatrix apparated inside of the office. She was cuddling a small, golden cup to her chest.

'I'm sorry it took me so long, my Lord!' she looked at Voldemort in fear. 'It turned out that Gringott's Bank is closed during nighttime. I had to wake the Goblins up! They were reluctant to open the building and let me inside, but they changed their minds as soon as they saw who I was!'

'It is not an issue, Bella.' The Dark Lord said softly. 'Give me the cup.'

Bella handed the cup over to him, and he examined for a while if it's intact. It was- Nordi could feel a Magical signature within it. Voldemort opened the warded dresser and carefully put it inside.

Having done it, he turned towards two male Death Eaters.

'I believe everything is clear? Severus? Exile?'

'Yes, my Lord.' they answered in unison.

'I expect a report about the Potter boy by tomorrow night.'

'Yes, my Lord.'

'You are all dismissed.'

The three of them stepped outside; Nordi was quickly explaining Bella the events of the night.

'Unbelievable, what this old coot was capable of!' she hissed with outrage when he was done.

'We all reacted the same way when we found out, Bella.' Nordi admitted.

'So, you believe you will make somebody at Hogwarts turn to our side?' she asked.

'I can't be sure, but I hope it.'

'Exile' Snape said impatiently. 'It's three o'clock in the night. Say your goodbyes; we are heading back to the castle.'

Bella frowned.

'I see you've gotten kinda uptight as a Headmaster, Severus.'

Snape sighed.

'I did not mean to be rude, Bella; only that night was rough, and I really need some rest.'

'I see. So is Nordi-boy. Alright, off you go.' She smiled.

'See you later, Bella! Take care of yourself! ' Nordi yelled before he felt Snape's hand on his shoulder and a jerk of side-apparition.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

'But you didn't reject me' Nordi was speaking softly and quietly. 'You didn't even try to throw me out of your mind. I really had an impression that you were willing to help me.'

Exile was sitting on a couch in the Headmaster's office, between Alecto and Amycus. Orion stood by their side next to Snape. In front of them, on a simple, conjured chair, sat Luna Lovegood.

Despite her laid-back personality, the girl was visibly tense and anxious.

Nordi has already explained her a plan to lure Potter into the castle. Now, he tried- in a most gentle, sensitive and patient manner he could- to reason with her and convince her to his rights.

'I did try.' She whispered. 'Not many people are able to fight the Imperius Curse…'

'You were the one to fight it during my classes.' Nordi noticed calmly. 'Besides, I did a little consultation with Professor Carrow here: you are one of the most skilled Mind Magic users in your age group.'

Amycus nodded.

'Yup. That's right.'

'Give it a thought, Luna: are you really sure that you couldn't have overcame the effects of the Veritaserum and my Imperius curse? Are you really sure that… deep inside… you didn't wish to cooperate with me?'

Luna looked at the five Death Eaters, her eyes were filled up with tears.

'N…no, I…'

'Look, Luna.' Nordi said softly. 'They sent you to Headmaster's Snape's office to get the sword, all alone, without any backup. You were chosen only because you were the best at casting Glamours. They didn't even bother to send any help, when you didn't come back for so long. Aren't you under an impression, that you have been used?'

Luna looked at Nordi; her huge eyes said it all.

'Luna, back in the forrest ,you've told me, that you stick to the "Dumbledore's Army", because Longbottom, Potter and the others are your friends. Is that correct?'

'Yes.'

'That is very human and natural to seek friends. Did your friendship with those people develop when you were meeting, as a "Dumbledore's Army", two years ago, during the rebellion against Professor Umbridge?'

'Yes, that's right.' Luna said in a more confident voice; it seemed that "Dumbledore's Army's" meetings used to be a very important part of her life.

'And do I recall correctly, that you told me, that those people were the first friends you had in your life?'

'Yes.'

Nordi exchanged meaningful looks with Snape. Everything was clear; Luna, a lonely girl abandoned by her peers, had found a support and acceptance within this group. Of course she would stick to them, despite of the fact that they weren't connected by a common idea. It was a simple, human need of affiliation and a sense of belonging that made Luna stick to Potter, Longbottom and their friends.

'Tell me Luna' Exile went on. 'Have you ever tried giving a deeper thought to the idea behind your… _friends' _actions? Do you know why do they do what they do?'

'Uhm…I'm afraid I don't understand the question, Professor Exile. Do you mean, why do they fight… err…you guys?'

'Yes. Exactly.'

'Er…'

She gave a hesitant look towards everyone in the room.

'It's okay, Luna. You may speak freely. Nobody is going to judge you and nobody is going to punish you.'

'It's because…' she hesitated for a while. 'It's because He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named… They want his failure, they don't want him to rule the Wizarding World.'

The atmosphere inside the office became more tense.

'And what about you, Luna? Do you agree with them?' Nordi asked gently.

'Yes.'

'Because they are your friends?'

'…Yes.'

Nordi caught a glimpse of Snape rising his eyebrows.

'Luna' he said. 'Do you know where they got this idea from? Do you know why don't they want the Dark Lord to rule?'

'I..I…' Luna stuttered. 'I know that …Professor Dumbledore…'

'Exactly.' Nordi was satisfied; they were finally reaching the point. 'Look, Luna. Have you ever seen how the old c… Professor Dumbledore was approaching the students? How he smiled to them, looked them in the eyes, spoke to them gently? I'm sure you've been a witness to such a situation at least once.'

'Yes, I've seen him always being kind to the students.' Luna admitted.

'You are a Mind Arts prodigy. I'm sure you have heard about Legilimency.'

'Yes, I have.'

'Did you know that the old coot… I mean, Professor Dumbledore, was a Master Legilimens?'

'I… didn't know that.'

'I leave it to your imagination, Luna, to think of what he was doing while making an eye contact with all those pupils.'

'Did he …read their minds?' Luna asked cautiously.

'Oh, no. He was too "important" to be interested in the petty students' thoughts. What he did was much worse. He implemented his own thoughts and ideas into their minds. Gently, softly and subtly, in a sophisticated manner. Almost nobody was able to notice it. Do you know why your friends, Longbottom, Potter, Weasley siblings, and the Mudblood…' Luna flinched on her seat. She must have not liked this word. '… Muggleborn girl, are so blindly loyal to him, even after his death? He was a master manipulator, Luna. He toyed with people. Messed their minds up and made them his pawns. Unfortunately, your friends are ones of his countless victims.'

'Professor Exile' Luna said, looking in Nordi's eyes. 'Did Professor Dumbledore tried tampering with your mind as well? Have you spotted his Legilimency attempt?'

Nordi exchanged sad looks with Snape. He didn't want to bring this topic up, but when the girl asked herself, he decided to tell her.

'No, Luna.' He answered. 'You see, I've never been an ordinary student. When I arrived at Hogwarts for the first time, I was already a fairly developed Dark Wizard. For my kind, Dumbledore had different "treatment". As you know, he was the most powerful Light Wizard out there. If a person possesses such a strong Magical Aura, which is a polar opposite to your own… this person can cause you an unbelievably strong physical pain. That was Dumbledore's approach to me, and to Professor Snape.'

'He… caused you pain?' Luna asked in disbelief.

'I didn't want to bring this up, Luna, because it doesn't concern neither you nor your friends, but, yes, he caused us pain. Repeatedly.' Nordi answered.

'Like the Cruciatus Curse?'

'Stronger.' whispered Snape.

Luna turned her head towards him in utter shock.

'Luna, Luna, believe me, he is not the person your friends want him to be. He is not your savior, your hero, your role model.' Nordi's eyes begged Luna to understand. 'What reasons do you have to follow him, other than your friends' words?'

'I… I have none. But… I don't want to lose my friends, either.' She whispered.

'I know. But you must see that they put you out to fight for their cause, a cause that isn't your own. That is not your fight, Luna. You have no reasons to get involved. Other reasons than maintaining your friendships, I mean. But this is not a good reason, not good at all. If they use you, like they used you yesterday, if they put such a pressure on you, they have no right to call themselves your friends.'

Luna wasn't able to withhold her tears anymore; she let them run down her cheeks.

'Luna, back in the forrest, you watched me spilling my blood to take a ward down. You told me that I seem to be really determinated. You see… I am, because I have something that I fight for, something worth my determination and sacrifice. Each person you see in this room can tell you the same about themselves. None of us had joined the Cause for to please our friends or families. Look, Luna, you can also have something worth fighting for, something worthy of spilling your blood. You don't need to be stuck in a place you don't even want to be in, only to please a bunch of people that don't even really care for you.'

Luna sobbed with her head down. Her skinny shoulders were shaking. Snape and Nordi eyed her carefully, Amycus started wriggling in his seat.

At last, the girl lifted her head and Nordi met her huge, light-blue eyes.

'Professor Exile.' She whispered. 'Tell me again what should I say to Harry Potter.'


	11. I Trust You

POV: Severus Snape

Snape stood inside of a Luna Lovegood's pensive memory.

Two teenagers were running through a thick, deciduous forrest. Brown-haired boy in a shiny, leather Death Earter's robes led the way, holding a white-blonde haired girl in Hogwarts' school robes by the hand.

The boy, Exile, looked very focused; his eyes' pupils were wide as he observed the surroundings mid-run.

At last, he turned his head towards the girl.

'Luna, it's somewhat further north-east from here. Brace yourself; we are apparating again.'

Snape heard a loud "crack" of Apparition; and after a split-seconds he saw the two kids in a different part or the forrest.

Exile turned his head around and his eyes stopped at one point. He gasped, and dragged the girl quickly behind a large, widely-spread tree.

'It's here, Luna.' Exile whispered. He leaned forward to peep from behind the tree. 'Can you see the big oak tree over there? The protective hemisphere is right on its left side. The campsite is hidden underneath.'

The blonde girl, Luna Lovegood, followed in the boy's footsteps and leaned forward to take a look.

'Luna' Exile whispered anxiously. 'If you want, I can accompany you under a disguising Glamour. However, id you'd feel uncomfortable having me there by your side, you can go alone.'

Lovegood turned her huge, pale eyes towards Exile.

'I thought you were going to put their wards down for me.' She said calmly and quietly.

'That would have ruined our plan. They probably know that you… no offence…but you're not quite able to work such wards out. Therefore, they would have figured out that you are probably not alone.'

'But in this case, how am I supposed to get through the wards? You've mentioned a Repelling one…' Luna spoke in an emotionless voice.

'Repelling for me, Luna, not for you. Those wards are designed not to let inside somebody of my kind, a Dark Wizard. They would stop a Death Eater, a Snatcher, or any other Dark Lord's follower, but not you. You're one of their kind.' Exile answered, still peeping at the place where the campsite was supposed to be. 'By the way, I'm still wondering how this Mudblood… Muggleborn' the boy corrected himself, noticing Lovegood flinching. '…was able to put up such complex wards.'

'Professor Exile' Luna muttered. 'I still fail to understand why do you insist on using such an insulting name.'

The boy looked at her, rising his eyebrows.

'You've attended Professor Carrow's Muggle Studies classes, haven't you?' he asked.

'Yes, I have; still, I didn't find out a reason for using a slur.'

'This is not a slur, Luna, it's more of a scientific term' He said impatiently. 'If you've paid attention to Allie's… I mean, Professor Carrow's classes, you would have known the origins of "Mudblood" name. We label Muggleborn people as such, because we're aware that the Muggle population outnumbers us, Wizards, many times. If we all mated with Muggles or Mud…ggleborns, the Magical gene pool would have quickly faded away. Wizards and Witches would have gone extinct, do you get it?'

Lovegood blinked her huge eyes.

'Now, when you've put it in such a simple way, Professor…'

Exile rolled his eyes.

'Alecto puts it in equally simple way during her lectures, but I assume you've never paid attention to them -because your friends' prejudices.' He said firmly.

'That's possible.'

'Okay, Luna, it's time to go. Would you rather go alone, or with me under a Glamour?'

Lovegood looked at him sheepishly.

'I'd rather go alone, Professor.'

'Alright. I will wait here; come back to this place as soon as you're done.'

The blonde girl nodded and made her way towards the large oak tree. Snape followed her.

Lovegood crossed the wards effortlessly, just like Exile had predicted. In front of Severus' eyes appeared a small tent; looking much like a Muggle one, but Snape recognized it as one of those with an enchanted, expendable interior.

The girl approached it hesitantly, and pulled a piece of fabric aside, revealing the tent's inside. Just as Snape assumed, it was a small flat with a large bedroom, a kitchen and a bathroom.

Then, Snape saw an utterly stunned and shocked face of Harry Potter, who jumped forward to Luna; Hermione Granger stepped out of the tiny kitchen and followed in his footsteps.

Potter looked like he was about to hug the blonde girl, but in the last split second, he hesitated. He exchanged worried looks with Granger.

'Luna.' Hermione Granger spoke. 'Care to answer some questions?'

Of course, Snape thought. They were going to examine if Lovegood is really herself, and not a Death Eater under the Polyjuice Potion. Snape must have admitted, that they were not being as stupid and reckless as in the past.

Luna nodded.

'What is your Father's name?' Potter asked.

'Xenophilius Lovegood.'

'How did you Mother die?'

'In an accident involving an experimental Potion.'

'In which House are you at Hogwarts?'

'At the moment? In none.'

Potter and Granger looked at each other.

'That is correct, Harry.' Granger said. 'I've heard that Snape had abolished four Houses. There is no more sorting and no more separate Common Rooms.'

'That slimy git!' Potter hissed. Severus frowned. 'Okay, Luna, in that case, in which House have you been in Hogwarts?'

'In Ravenclaw.'

'One more question.' The Mudblood said. 'Which form does your corporal Patronus take?

'My Patronus is a hare.' Lovegood answered.

'That's her.' Potter said. 'I'm so sorry, Luna. We had to make sure that you are no Snatcher in disguise.'

'It's okay, Harry, I understand that. I's good that you're being cautious.' The blonde girl answered matter-o-factly.

'Luna, It's so good to see you.' Granger said. 'Ron is off to the village to get some food, but he should be back anytime now. And… we're all so sorry that we put you in so much trouble. I mean, this situation with the sword…'

'We've been really worried about you. When this petty little piece of shit stormed into our camp and stole the locket, he had mentioned your and Neville's names. I was sure at this point that you are in a lot of trouble' Potter added.

'Luna… What did they do to you? Did they curse you? Did they use Cruciatus? You're looking unwell, you're really pale…' Granger asked.

'No, Hermione, I'm really okay.' Luna said calmly. 'I appreciate that you guys've been worried, but… it was not so bad, and I wasn't cursed.'

Granger and Potter looked relieved.

'As a matter of fact, I came to you with some information.' Luna went on. 'You've mentioned the guy who stole the locket from you. I know where the locket is, along with all the other Horcruxes.'

Snape regretted not having a Magical camera to take a picture of Potter's and Granger's faces. He hasn't seen such a mixture of shock, disbelief and hope in a long time.

'Luna' Granger said cautiously. 'Did Dumbledore tell you about the Horcrux hunt?'

'Of course.' Luna lied effortlessly. 'That's why you guys were needing the Gryffindor's sword, am I right?'

Granger and Potter looked at each other.

'Luna, where are the Horcruxes?' Potter asked finally.

'At Hogwarts.'

Silence. Snape could hear their hearts pounding.

'That would make sense.' Potter said slowly. 'This little shit who took the locket…I recognized him. Isn't he a Hogwarts student, Luna?'

'Actually, no. He's a teacher.' The blonde girl explained.

'A _teacher?!_' the two ex-Gryffindors exclaimed in unison.

'Yup. He teaches Dark Arts.'

'_Dark Arts ! _That's an actual class at Hogwarts now? That's outraging!' Granger said with disgust.

'It doesn't matter now, Hermione. What's important, we know that the "_professor"_ stored the stolen locket at Hogwarts.' Potter said. 'What do you know about the other Horcruxes, Luna?'

'I know about the ring. The one Dumbledore used to wear, the one that had cursed his fingers. Remember, Harry?'

'Yes!' Potter exclaimed. 'I remember the ring; I wasn't aware it was a Horcrux though.'

'There's also a diadem… Diadem that once belonged to Rowena Ravenclaw.' Luna said.

'Is it also a Horcrux? Are you sure?'

'Yes. I know it was one hidden in the Room of Requirement, but now Snape takes care of it. There is also a golden cup…'

'A golden cup?'

'…the one that once belonged to Helga Hufflepuff.' Luna explained. 'You see, some Horcruxes are somewhat connected to each of the Hogwarts Founders. The locket that you had… Didn't it have an image of a snake on it?'

Granger nodded.

'It once belonged to Salazar Slytherin.'

Granger and Potter exchanged looks.

'So, those four Horcruxes are at Hogwarts. Are you absolutely sure, Luna?' the Mudblood girl asked.

'If I wasn't sure, I wouldn't have risked such a dangerous trip to pass it on to you.' Luna noticed.

Potter nodded.

'You're right. Sorry, Luna. I appreciate how much you've risked to come and meet us. It's just… we're all slightly unnerved, because our Horcrux hunt has been, up to this point, in vein.'

'You don't have to explain, Harry. I know.' Lovegood answered calmly.

'But, having said that, your information is even more groundbreaking to us. If you're correct, we will have a chance to get four Horcruxes at once.' Potter added in an excited voice. 'You're brilliant, Luna.'

'That's not a big deal. I just couldn't keep such an important information to myself.' Lovegood muttered; Snape saw that she was flushing slightly. She put hand in her robes' pocket and pulled out a small item.

Granger's eyes widened.

'Is it…?'

'Yes. One of the false golden coins, which we've used back then, under Umbridge's regime, within the "Dumbledore's Army".' She handed the coin over to the bushy-haired girl. 'I want you to use it to let me know about your plans. I mean, if you decide to come to Hogwarts to fulfill your assignment. So _we _can… be ready.'

Snape looked at the blonde-haired girl with a hint of admiration in his eyes; he didn't expect her to come up with such an ingenious idea. Moreover, Luna's last sentence… it was ambiguous. She sounded like somebody who really started to identify herself with the _right _side.

'Guys, I should head back. If anyone notices that I'm away from the school grounds…'

'You're right. We don't want you to have even more trouble. Go, Luna. We're really grateful that you came.' Granger said.

'Thank you, Luna, and take care!' Potter added, and Snape followed the blonde girl out of the tent. She made her way to the widely-spread tree, where Exile was waiting for her.

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Severus was down on his knees in front of his Master.

'Potter has caught the bait, my Lord.' He said. 'The girl, Luna Lovegood, did a brilliant job. I have seen everything through her pensive memory. I have it stored in a vial for you, my Lord, if you wish to see it.'

Lord Voldemort nodded.

'Was the girl under the Imperius Curse?

'No, my Lord. She was acting utterly on her own will. What is more, she did even more than has been assigned to her; she came up with an idea to let us know about the exact planned time of Potter's arrival. She gave him an enchanted coin used as a mean of communication.'

The Dark Lord nodded with acknowledgement.

'Therefore, I understand that she is… convinced?'

'Yes, my Lord, I have no reason to doubt that she is genuinely on our side at this point. Exile is beaming with pride.' Snape answered.

'Did the boy convince her?'

'Yes, my Lord, they held a conversation in my office last night. He was gentle, compassionate and rational towards her. I could see the change inside of the girl's eyes during the progress of the conversation. Exile has pointed out the loopholes and contradictions in her reasoning. He has hit her tender point. He has reduced her to tears and comforted her. He was successful, my Lord.'

Voldemort nodded.

'I want to meet the girl, Severus.'

Snape flinched; he didn't expect this.

'My Lord… she is on our side, but I do not think she is ready…'

'I request to meet her, Severus.' The Dark Lord repeated, emphasizing words. Snape bowed.

'Yes, my Lord, I will bring her tomorrow.'

'Very well. You are dismissed.'

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POV: Nordi Exile

Nordi stepped out of his classroom, having dismissed a group of third-years. Amycus waved over to him on the corridor.

'Hey, Ammie, what's up?' Exile smiled to him. After the success with Luna and his plan to fool Potter, he has been in an excellent mood.

'Hey, Exile, I've heard that the Potter brat caught our bait' Amycus said.

'Yeah. We even have a way to establish the exact time of his arrival. Luna came up with a brilliant idea.'

'I've heard about it, too. Did you know that Severus took that girl to the Headquarters today?'

Nordi's eyes widened; he didn't know that. That was perhaps a little bit rushed-up for Luna.

'Well… she proved herself loyal to us. Perhaps she will be introduced to the Dark Lord. Of course that is awesome, but I hope she don't get freaked out. It's all still new to her, she's not used to standing with us, and therefore she is still a little bit apprehensive.'

'She's a brave girl. She will manage.' Amycus said.

'I hope so.'

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Nordi was sitting at his desk in his staff's room. He had a pile of homework papers waiting to be graded in front of him, but he was occupied with something else.

He leaned forward over a large piece of parchment, which he tagged as "BATTLE PLAN". He has already sketched a detailed picture representing the Hogwarts castle, now he was working on making a list of Death Eaters' forces on the left side of the sketch, and the expected Order of the Phoenix's forces on its right side.

Suddenly, he heard somebody knocking at his door. He frowned and casted a quick tempus; it was almost two o'clock in the night. Who might that have been?

'Come in!' he said hesitantly. Only Snape, Orion, Draco and the Carrows were keyed inside his Blood Wards; if it was anyone else, they won't be able to enter.

The door opened and he saw a very pale and heavily shaking Luna Lovegood. She looked horrified.

'Luna!' Nordi exclaimed, jumping off his seat. He placed his hand with outstretched fingers upon a bloody Ritual Circle in the middle of the room. 'Exicco, exicco, exicco, exicco, exicco. Vacivus.' He uttered, and the circle glowed red, vanishing the protective ward.

'Come in, Luna.' He invited the girl.

The blonde girl stepped inside; Nordi couldn't help but notice how badly were her knees shaking. Her face was bony pale and her huge eyes were completely blank; she looked almost like a ghost.

Nordi escorted her to the chair and sat her down, guessing what had happened in the Headquarters.

'Luna, what…?' he asked gently. To his horror, tears started running down from her eyes.

'Luna…'

The girl lifted her shaking hand and, in a quick, panic movement, she rolled up her left sleeve.

Exile saw what he's already predicted to see: a fresh, pulsating, wriggling Dark Mark.

He couldn't help but kneel in front of the girl, giving her a big, tender hug. He let her sob into his shoulder, stroking her hair gently.

'Luna… Luna, it's okay… You did so well… I'm so proud of you…' he whispered to her ear.

Luna couldn't calm herself down for a good fifteen minutes. Unable to produce a word, she only wept silently in Nordi's arms.

The boy felt such a tenderness and compassion holding her. He knew exactly how hard it was for the girl. How her life was about to turn upside down as a consequence of her decision.

'Luna… I know how difficult is it … It's all completely new for you… But, believe me, it's going to be alright… I swear you will _never _regret it, we will take care of you, you're one of our kind now…'

'Professor Exile…' the girl whispered.

'Nordi.'

'E…excuse me?'

'You can call me by my first name' Nordi explained softly. 'It doesn't matter that I'm your Professor anymore; you are my comrade-in-arms now and you can address me as such.'

'Nordi… 'Luna said quietly. 'I'm scared. Terrified.'

'I know, Luna. It's natural. It's a part of the process; you've found yourself in a situation you've never been in before. Without your friends and outside of your comfort zones. However, believe me: as soon as you get used to it, you won't have to be scared anymore in your life. Look, _he _has chosen you. You have proven yourself worthy. This-' Nordi touched gently the girl's Dark Mark '-is a great honor. And we will take care of you, we will protect you from your so-called friends. Please, trust me.'

Luna closed her eyes to withhold her tears and squeezed the boy's hand tightly.

'I trust you, Nordi.' She whispered.


	12. Preparing for the Battle

POV: Severus Snape

Snape fiddled with the false one-galleon coin, holding it close to his eyes.

The golden coin had a set of numbers engraved on its surface, above an image of a dragon.

Severus lifted his eyes from the small object, taking a look at a pale and trembling, freshly appointed Death Eater. Luna Lovegood was still clearly uneasy in her new role and new path of life. However, despite her pale face and shaking hands, Snape could clearly see a new twinkle of determination inside her huge, light-blue eyes.

'The numbers on this side of the coin, Professor' spoke Luna 'represent the date of the planned assault. It says 020598, that means that it will most likely take place May the second, current year. Now, if you please reversed the coin, Professor…'

Snape turned the coin to the other side, the surface represented Merlin's face like an original one, however, above the image there was another set of numbers- 50/60.

'This side represents the estimated number of the attackers. It says 50/60, so I guess, Harry estimates it between fifty and sixty people.' Luna said. She spoke calmly, although her arms wee still shaking.

'Between fifty and sixty…'Severus muttered, surprised. 'They must be utterly desperate. This is the entire Order of the Phoenix. And May the second is less than three weeks from now, Potter is in a hurry...'

Luna stood silently, looking at him.

'You have done extraordinarily well, Miss Lovegood.' Snape said. 'You are dismissed.'

Luna turned away and headed to the entrance. Snape looked at the girl with a hint of compassion, and decided to have a couple of words more with her.

'Miss Lovegood?' The girl turned her head back to him. Snape looked her in the eyes.

'How do you... handle everything?' he asked softly.

'Not so bad anymore, thank you, Professor.' Luna answered politely.

'I know it must not be easy for you... You see, we all have been through the same, I speak from experience...'

'I know, Professor, I'm well aware of that. Nordi has spent the entire night explaining me everything. He helps me a lot; if not for him comforting me, I don't know If I had an inner strength to do this.'

'That is good to hear, Miss Lovegood. Tell me, do your former friends from the "Dumbledore's Army"... Do they know?' Snape asked.

'They... suspect, sir.' the girl answered silently, putting her head down.

'Do you experience any trouble from their side?' Severus asked.

'No... I mean, obviously it isn't the way it was before... They assume that I'm not ...their friend anymore, so they don't really speak to me or spend time with me. However, I'm not bullied of persecuted, or anything of that kind.' Luna spoke calmly, but there was a hint of grief in her voice.

'Lovegood, remember that if you have any kind of problems from the members of the "Dumbledore's Army's" side , you can... no, you are supposed to... come to me, or to Exile... You can also seek help from Professors Carrows if you feel like it... Professor Black is also there for you. All of us. You can come anytime, in the day of in the night. Even if you are not persecuted, but you need to talk, or need to be comforted. You do not need to be ashamed or shy in that matter. We are there to help you.'

Luna nodded.

'Thank you, Headmaster Snape.'

'And if you found yourself in a serious trouble, or in a dangerous situation, you can always summon one of us. Did Exile teach you how to do it?'

'Do you mean... Pressing my wand against the Dark Mark, uttering the name? Yes, sir, he did teach me.' the girl said.

'Good. I have one final question. How do you find your Dorm arrangements? If you do not feel comfortable there, we can provide you with your own room, if you wish.'

Luna looked confused and hesitant.

'There is no need to be shy about it. If you need to have your own room, just tell me. I know that you share Dorms with Ginevra Weasley and a couple of other girls that are clearly against us. It is perfectly understandable if you don't want to live with them anymore.' Snape said softly.

'I... I'll think about it, Professor.' Luna said sheepishly.

'Alright. If you decide that you want to move out of Dorms, just tell me, or tell Exile. We will arrange something for you.'

'Okay. Thank you again, Headmaster.' Luna bowed her head.

'You are welcome. Go and rest a little bit.' Snape advised her. 'Go with Exile to Hogsmeade, if you want. He has an evening off, so I am sure he is going to head there with the Carrows.'

Much to Snape's relief, Luna's eyes lightened with happiness.

'Oh, that'd be awesome. I'll go, Professor.'

Snape watched her leaving; he was glad the girl is replacing her old friends with the new ones. After all, friendship has always been her biggest motivation.

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'But, Headmaster...!'

'_No_, Exile.'

'They're our biggest supportive group, our foundation!'

'Yes. They are also children.'

It was a few days after the conversation with Luna, when Snape found out about the time and numbers of the planned assault on Hogwarts.

Severus had an argument with Exile and Amycus, who tried to convince him to let the younger age groups of students to partake in the battle.

'Professor...' Exile whined pleadingly. He lifted a piece of parchment to the level of Snape's eyes; it was a "battle plan", where he had drawn a diagram representing the estimated friendly and hostile forces. 'Take a look at this, please. If you let the lower age groups fight, we're going to outnumber them three times! We're going to _crush _the Order into tiny pieces!'

'We are going to crush it into pieces anyway, Exile!' Snape said impatiently. 'As a Headmaster, I cannot allow children into a battle, unless there is a severe necessity. And in this case, there is not. How many times are we going to outnumber the Order without the lower age groups?'

'Twice.' Nordi said reluctantly.

'You have your answer.' stated Snape.

'But sir, please understand that _I've already told them! _They want to fight, they're excited... We are preparing to the battle during my classes...' Exile groaned.

'I did the same.' confessed Amycus.

'I am really sorry, but in this case the two of you are going to disappoint your pupils. As much as satisfied I am with their eagerness and will to fight, I will not let anyone under sixteen to partake.'

'But Headmaster, _I am under sixteen!'_

'_You _are a Death Eater. You have been acknowledged as old enough to fight by the Dark Lord himself. Therefore, as far as the new Ministry's Department of Law Enforcement is concerned, you are considered an adult. You cannot say the same about the students, though.' Snape explained impatiently.

Exile made an offended expression.

'Fine.' he snarled. 'Then, I'll just go and tell those students, that they are excluded from the battle they were so excited about. Just amazing.'

Snape rolled his eyes.

'The Ministry may consider you an adult, but now, you are really acting like a spoiled brat. You didn't get what you wanted, so you are going to act offended? And who, may I ask, made a false hope for those kids, without having consulted me first? You must comprehend, Exile, that those children are our most precious gem. They are the future of the Wizarding World. You have listened to the Dark Lord before the term started. You know how much he values them, as our foundation for the future. This is extremely fortunate that the lower age groups are almost exclusively and unanimously on our side; and I acknowledge that the credit for this goes to you and Amycus. You may think highly of your young pupils, you may appreciate their Wizarding skills and you may wish to let them partake in the fight; this is normal for a teacher to have faith in his students. However, their lives are more precious than your ambitions. Please, get over it.'

After this short speech, Exile and Amycus looked slightly embarrassed. Snape was satisfied; he managed to open their reckless eyes to see the possible danger, which exposing the kids to a battle may bring. he watched them nodding silently and walking away.

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POV: Nordi Exile

Less than a week until the Battle. Nordi couldn't bring himself to eat or sleep for a couple of days now, chugging galleons of Calming Draught and sweating heavily.

It was the middle of the night, he was pacing around his room, thinking through the battle plans yet again. Too bad Snape didn't let the younger students partake; however, Nordi understood his reasoning. The loss of each of those children would be a heavy blow; it would be a loss of a powerful future Dark Lord's ally.

Exile reached for a thick Rituals compendium, trying to occupy his thoughts with studying. He opened the book yet again on the infamous Horcrux counter-ritual, which he was hopefully going to perform after the Order was defeated. If everything went good.

_No, I cannot acknowledge the thought that anything might go wrong, _he scolded himself. Well, after all, the chances of a failure were really low.

Knock, knock.

Nordi lifted his head from the book, looking at the door.

'Come in.'

Luna Lovegood appeared in the door.

'Luna, come in, take a seat.'

He didn't have to take the wards down this time, because he had keyed Luna into them. They spent lately a lot of time together; Luna obviously needed someone to support and comfort her in her new situation. However, Nordi was slightly surprised by this late-night visit; moreover, the girl was looking visibly unnerved.

'Luna, everything alright?' he asked.

'Nordi, I...I knew you won't be asleep...' she whispered, sitting on a chair. 'Err, you know... Headmaster Snape told me that I may come if I'm in trouble...'

'Of course, Luna. It's good that you came. Tell me what happened.'

'See, Nordi... I know it's only four days left... After the battle, everything will change...'

'Sure' the boy said softly. 'It will change utterly and for the better.'

'O..only you see, it's still four days until then... And I...I'm afraid I won't e...endure it anymore...'

Nordi's eyes widened. He put his hand on Luna's shoulder.

'Do you have problems from your former friends' side, Luna?' he asked.

'Yes.' she whispered. 'Earlier, they only suspected me, and treated me like if I didn't exist... But two days ago they suspicions confirmed, I mean... Ginny noticed _it ,_in the Dorms,when I was changing shirts... It was an accident, but her reaction... _everybody's _reaction...'

Luna started sobbing quietly.

'Luna' Nordi said gently. 'Why didn't you come to me earlier?'

'I didn't want to b...bother you, after all, there is only a few days left I would have t...to endure there, in their company... However, I o...overestimated my endurance, Nordi. I can't... This is unbearable.'

'Luna...'

'Ginny...'Luna whispered. 'Ginny has just asked me if...'

Her voice broke in a weep again.

'She asked me if I'm... I'm such a f...freak and a weirdo because of inbreeding, like all other Death Eaters.'

Nordi hugged Luna tightly, making a mental note to painfully curse Ginevra Weasley the following day.

'Shhh, Luna, it's okay. I'll deal with Ginny later, and you are not doing back to the Dorms anymore.' He whispered.

'Nordi, could you let me... s..stay here, just for this night... Tomorrow I'll ask Professor Snape to arrange a new room for me...'

'You can stay here for as long as you want, Luna.' Nordi whispered, hoping that it didn't sound ambiguous.

'Thank you...' she muttered to his shoulder.

Nordi snapped his fingers to summon a house elf. A young male one appeared in his room with a "crack".

'How Iggy can serve you, young master Exile?' the house elf screeched.

'Iggy' Nordi said. 'Please go to the sixth years girl's Dorm, and gather all belongings of Miss Lovegood. Bring everything here together with her trunk.'

'Iggy goes, young master Exile.' the elf screeched and desappeared.

The boy poured a mug of watered down Calming Draught and handed it to Luna.

'Drink this, Luna.' he said gently. 'It will help soothe your nerves. The elf will bring all your stuff. You can sleep on my bed, and I'll conjure a mattress for myself.'

'I... I don't even know how to thank you...' Luna uttered.

Nordi looked in the girl's eyes and saw the eleven-years-old self, a newbie at Hogwarts, who addressed Professor Snape with exactly the same words, when said Professor offered to take him under his care and protection. _I don't even know how to thank you..._

And Nordi answered her the same way as Snape andwered him back then.

'You don't have to thank me. We take care of our own.'

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Having drunk the Calming Draught, Luna- shattered and exhausted from the day- fell asleep on Nordi's bed.

Iggy managed to gather all her things from the Dorms and bring it to the boy's room.

Exile paced quietly around, still unable to settle down. He took a look at the sleeping girl and smiled: Luna at last looked peacefully. Nordi was glad that she felt safe and relaxed in his company; he was happy that she decided to turn to him for help.

When the boy finally felt sleepy, he conjured a mattress non-verbally and laid down trying not to make noise. He looked at Luna to make sure he didn't wake her up; the girl was still soundly asleep. Her pale arm was hanging down from the bed, exposing her fresh, intensively black Dark Mark.

Nordi smiled to himself. He was so proud of her.


	13. Battle of Hogwarts

In the nightfall of May the first, Nordi Exile - pale and sweaty -apparated inside of the Headmaster's office.

Severus Snape stood up as he saw him, with a hint of anxiety in his small, dark eyes.

'Are everyone at the Headquarters ready, Exile?' he asked.

'Yes, sir. They are gathered together, waiting only for our signal.' the boy declared.

'Does Bellatrix know what is she supposed to do?'

Nordi grinned.

'Bella can't even sit down, she's that excited. Out of all people, she knows the best what she must do.'

Snape nodded.

'And, sir' Nordi reminded himself. 'Bella asked me to pass a message on to you. _We are going to win without any causalities on our side.'_

Snape rolled his eyes.

'She could have told me something that I am not aware of yet.'

Nordi smirked, amused.

'Which Hogwarts wards are up at the moment?' Severus asked.

'Only the Physical Shield, sir.' Nordi answered. 'But... maybe, if you let me... I mean, the Anti-Apparition one...'

'No, Exile, we have already discussed it. If you put it up, that would mean a great hindrance in our plan. A big part of our plan is to destroy the Order, take down as many of its members as possible. Therefore, as many of them as possible must be lured inside of the castle. If we won't let them apparate here, that would mean a lower attendance on their part.' Snape stated.

'That's correct, Headmaster.' Nordi admitted.

'What preparations are still to be made?' Orion asked in an anxious voice.

Nordi took a look on the circular office's interior; all of the Hogwarts' Death Eaters were gathered together there. None of them intended to rest that night.

'Plenty.' Nordi muttered. 'However, we wait for their first move. Keep calm, Orion.'

Nordi put his hand inside his robes' pocket and pulled out a shrunken down package wrapped in brown paper. He muttered an incantation to un-shrink it, and handed it over to Luna.

'My friend Bella dug it up for you in the Headquarters. I thought... that you shouldn't attend the battle in your shool robes.'

Pale, tired Luna accepted the package, looking at the boy in confusion.

She unwrapped it, revealing a shiny, leather, embroidered Death Eater's set of robes.

'Nordi...' she whispered, visibly unsure how to react.

'It's a hand-me-down' Nordi explained, flushing slightly. 'Bella used to wear it. But it's clean and in perfect condition, so I thought...'

'Don't say anything more, Nordi.' she cut him off gently. 'It's perfect.'

Nordi blushed crimson. Luna, throughout last couple of days, became much calmer and much more accepting of her new affiliation. Nordi was sure it had a lot to do with cutting off her ties with her former "friends"; he took as a point of honor to shield her from the members of the "Dumbledore's Army". Over the past four days Luna stayed with him in the room; being escorted by him to classes and meals. Ginny Weasley, who used to bully Luna after she had spotted her Dark Mark, was punished by Nordi personally.

Orion cleared his throat.

'I know that you two are teenagers, and therefore your priority is to look good during the battle,' he said mockingly 'but for the majority of us more important is making preparations to achieve victory.'

Nordi frowned at him.

'Piss off, Orion. I made more preparations for the battle within the last couple of hours than you did within the last weeks.'

At this point, they heard a commotion downstairs. Orion drew his wand and jumped off his seat.

'Is it already starting?' he whispered.

Nordi and Amycus looked at each other and laughed him off.

'Sit down, Orion, you big coward.' Amycus said. 'It's just the old hag.'

'Mcgonagall? What is she doing down there at this time?' Orion frowned.

'She knows.' Snape muttered.

Everybody looked at him.

'All of the students were informed.' Snape explained. 'There is no way the old part of the faculty could remain oblivious. What is more, remember that she is a member of the Order. After she found out from the pupils, she most likely made contact with the Order.'

'What is she going to do?' Orion asked.

'And what do you think? She will fight.' Nordi muttered.

'We should head down and check what is she doing.' Orion whispered. 'We don't know what is she up to right now.'

Orion, Nordi and Carrows looked at Snape. The commotion downstairs became louder; it seemed that a big part of the student body was on the corridors.

'Exile and Amycus will go there and check it.' Snape decided. 'The rest of us will wait for your signal to step in.'

Nordi and Carrow nodded and apparated in front of the Great Hall.

They found themselves surrounded by hundreds of people- students and teachers.

Mcgonagall seemed to be trying to keep the order. She probably assumed that she will gain a high-ground during the battle, if she made a move before the Death Eaters. She clearly wanted to take things in her charge; now, she was standing on the platform in the Great Hall, yelling at the anxious students.

'Silence! Everybody, line up here, keeping an order! There is no need to panic!'

Flitwick and Sprout tried to help her to make the students organize themselves, pacing around them and telling them to stand in neat rows.

Nordi and Amycus exchanged meaningful looks and - not intending to force their way through the crowd- apparated by Mcgonagall's side.

'And what is that you think you are doing, old hag?' Amycus asked.

Mcgonagall flinched and made a few steps back, seeing the two Death Eaters.

'I know what is about to happen.' she said coldly. 'And judging by your not-so-well concealed preparations throughout the last few weeks, you are well aware of that, too. I will not let any of the students to be harmed.'

'If that's so, then we are going on the same boat, Mcgonagall.' Nordi uttered. 'We don't want any of the students to be harmed, either.'

'However, it's not your job to assure their safety.' Amycus added. 'We are in charge of the castle now, not you.'

'There is no way I am leaving _your kind _in charge without a fight.' the older Which said, emphasizing words. 'Until the Order of the Phoenix appears here, I have sworn to make the students safe, as well as provide security for Harry Potter for the time he is fulfilling Headmaster Dumbledore's assignment.'

Nordi and Amycus jumped forward to her. Amycus grabbed her by the front of her robes and lifted her up slightly .

'What does that mean, old hag?!'

'Is Potter already here?!' Nordi added impatiently.

Mcgonagall eyed both of them in utter shock; she probably assumed that they were already aware of Potter's presence in the castle.

'Let go of that crone, Ammie!' Nordi snarled and rolled his sleeve up. He pressed his index finger against his Dark Mark and muttered "_Severus Snape_".

Said Headmaster appeared in front of them in a split second. He rose his eyebrows at Mcgonagall, seeing the Hall full of students.

'We have a little problem, Severus.' Amycus said, letting go of Mcgonagall, who collapsed on the floor. 'Potter is already here.'

'What?' Snape hissed. 'Minerva, did you see him?' he asked, turning his head to the old Witch.

Mcgonnagal, with a speed that nobody suspected her of, drew her wand and aimed it at Snape. She uttered an incantation and a silver thread of a hex was shot towards Severus, but he was able to shield himself on time.

'Repulso.' he whispered. The mild curse sent the old Witch against the wall.

'Save your breath, Minerva.' Snape snarled. He pressed his wand against his Dark Mark, summoning Alecto, Orion , Luna and Draco.

As soon as the four of them apparated by their side, Snape turned his head to Draco.

'A slight adjustment to our plans.' He explained. 'Potter has already arrived. The rest of the Order is yet to come. The four of you will now disperse within the castle and search for the boy. We will join you as soon as we arrange the safety for the students.'

'Yes, sir.' Draco nodded and apparated away. Orion, Luna and Alecto followed in his footsteps.

Mcgonagall has already picked herself up from the floor and she walked towards Snape, fuming with anger. Her lips were tightened even more than usually and her cheeks were blushing crimson.

'The time came for the students to declare themselves, choosing the side they are on.' she said solemnly. 'Snorous!' she yelled, pressing her wand against her throat.

'Hogwarts is in danger!' she yelled, causing all the students within the Hall to go silent. Nordi frowned at her and exchanged glances with Snape, but the Headmaster allowed her to continue.

'A battle is about to take place in our school.' the old Witch went on. 'A battle that might once and for all free our school from the Death Eater's regime!'

If she was expecting a huge applause, then she must have been disappointed. The only students who cheered for her, were the members of the "Dumbledore's Army."

She looked with a hint of hope at the younger age groups, expecting them to support her - and that must have been a biggest letdown. The kids crossed their arms on their chests and gave her hostile looks, whispering angrily among themselves. Nordi smirked with satisfaction.

'The time has come to pick your sides!' Mcgonagall continued. 'The youngest of you must be evacuated...'

'That is a part of our plan, Minerva.' Snape said calmly. 'We have an established way of evacuating the younger age groups for the time of the fight, and we do not need you _butting in.'_

Mcgonagall shot him a hateful look.

'Those of you under sixteen years of age, please follow Professor Carrow to the Common Room, and proceed as we have established beforehand. The set of portkeys is already waiting for you there. The portkeys will take you for a time being to a safe place in our Headquarters.' Snape said calmly towards the kids.

Much to Mcgonagall utter shock, the younger students followed Amycus outside, in a disciplined, organized manner - just like they were told during the classes beforehand.

As soon as only the sixteen- and seventeen year-olds remained in the Great Hall, the old Witch spoke again.

'Now, those of you who side with _Headmaster _Snape and his Death Eaters, step forward.'

Just like Nordi had assumed, the majority of the older students took a step forward. All of the ex-Slytherins, but also a fair number of ex-Ravenclaws and a couple of ex-Hufflepuffs.

Only the "Dumbledore's Army" and its supporters stayed behind - about twenty people in total, with Neville Longbottom in the first row as their informal leader.

Mcgonagall got very pale, seeing how little support she has. She opened her mouth to speak, but before she had a chance, they heard a loud "crack!" of Apparition in front of the Great Hall.

The Order of the Phoenix stormed inside.

A group of about fifty Aurors and other members of the resistance group stood with their wands stretched out. The students who declared themselves to be on their side, Longbottom being the first one, quickly joined their rank, together with Flitwick and Sprout.

A huge commotion started. The ex- Slytherins and the other supportive students started throwing hexes and curses at the Order; and the Aurors answered with a well-organized back-fire.

Mcgonagall turned towards Nordi and Snape with her wand outstretched, and performed a curse Nordi had never seen before. It was a variation of Fiendfyre; a flame in a shape of a snake, which flied towards the two Death Eaters in an amazing speed.

Snape shielded both of them with a very powerful "protego". However, that was not the end; the flame transfigured into a cloud, which sent a dozen of sharp daggers their side.

'EXILE, GET DOWN! ' Snape yelled, probably aware that the enchanted daggers were impossible to shield from.

Nordi jumped aside, dropping on the floor; he dodged most of the daggers, although one of them whooshed next to his ear and made a scratch on his cheek.

'SECTARIUS!' furious Snape sent a cutting curse towards the old Witch's knees, making her collapse on the ground. 'EXPELIARMUS!' he disarmed her, and caught her wand mid-air.

''EXILE, GO AND FIND POTTER!' Snape yelled, trying to make his voice through the flying spells. 'I WILL CALL UPON BELLATRIX TO COME WITH THE REINFORCEMENTS, BUT POTTER CANNOT BE HARMED DURING THE BATTLE! YOU MUST CAPTURE HIM! GO HELP THE OTHERS ! HURRY!'

Nordi nodded, still lying on the floor, and apparated away.

The battle has already spread within the castle. He made his way quickly through the corridors, throwing curses mid-run at the Aurors fighting with ex-Slytherins. Nordi hoped that Bella and the others will soon come to help.

Nordi, running beside the fighting groups, finally spotted Draco, who clearly was clueless what to do next. His eyes twinkled when he saw approaching Exile.

'We cannot find him!' he yelled. 'Allie, Orion, Luna and me have already turned the entire castle upside down, searching for Potter. He's nowhere to be found! Are you sure that the old hug wasn't shitting us?'

'No, Draco, if he wasn't in the castle, the entire Order of the Phoenix wouldn't have appeared to aid him.' Nordi stated matter-o-factly. 'Have you guys tried the Headmaster's office?'

'Why would he go to the Headmaster's Snape's office? They hate each other.' Draco said in confusion.

'Potter came here for the Horcruxes, and the office is the most probable place for us to store them.' Nordi explained.

'Nordi, Draco! I've searched through the entire former Gryffindor Common Room, and Allie has checked the Dorms.' Luna was coming by to them, walking gracefully in her new Death Eater's outfit. 'He's not there as well.'

'I have a guess, Luna.' Nordi said. 'He might be in the Headmaster's office. Let's go.'

The three of them without wasting anymore time apparated inside the circular room.

Not surprisingly, the first thing they saw was Harry Potter turning Snape's dresser upside down. Countless Potion vials, pieces of parchment, quills and other small objects laid all over the floor in a huge mess.

The Weasley boy and Mudblood girl were at Potter's side, checking the other parts of the office.

Seeing the three teenagers in Death Eater's robes apparating in the middle of the room, Potter, Weasley and Granger drew their wands immediately, pointing them at the intruders. However, they hesitated and lowered them in a visible shock, seeing Luna.

'Luna?!' the Mudblood girl exclaimed.

'Hello, guys.' Luna said in an unaffectionate voice.

'What the fuck does that mean?!' the ginger yelled.

'That means that Luna is no longer on your side, and the three of you have been lured into a trap.' Nordi explained.

Three hexes from three sides were shot towards the three young Death Eaters. Nordi lifted his hand up towards the ceiling, conjuring a powerful, hemisphere shield around them.

'Luna, Draco' Nordi said anxiously. 'What I'm about to do might look dangerous, even crazy, but I will ask you two to trust me, stay where you are, and don't move. Nobody is going to get hurt.'

The boy lifted the shield, rose his hand with outstretched fingers again and yelled:

'FIENDFYRE !'

The cured flames took over the entire room, and the three Death Eaters found themselves in the middle of them. The fire didn't make them any harm; it only radiated a pleasant warmth.

'Nordi, Potter must be captured alive.' Draco reminded him.

'I know. I control it. I won't hurt him.' Nordi said quickly.

He ordered the flames to split in two sides, revealing the three enemies who clinged to each other, surrounded by blazing, fast-moving fire. He made the flames diminish, and create a ring, encircling them.

Nordi stepped forward and approached the three teenagers closed in the circle of fire. He held his hand outstretched towards them.

'Potter, hand your wands over to me.' He ordered.

As an answer, he received three hateful looks. He waved his hand at the cursed flames, causing them to tighten the ring around Potter and his friends.

'I can make it burn you in no time.' Nordi warned. 'I can also make it fry you very slowly, starting of your feet. Your wands, please.'

Potter flinched in disgust and stretched his hand out to his friends, letting them know to hand their wands over to him. Then, he handed all three wands to Nordi, passing them above the ring of fire.

Exile smiled, accepting the wands, and snapped his fingers to make the fire disappear. Draco and Luna came forward to him.

'Alright, now we…' Nordi started, but the Weasley boy all of a sudden jumped forward to Draco, punching him in the face. His hatred towards the blonde boy must have been stronger than his self- preservation instinct.

Surprised Draco stunned the ginger boy, wiping his nose of blood.

'Incancerous!' Nordi snarled, tying up Potter's and Granger's wrists behind their backs. 'And I thought you will behave!'

He turned to his friends.

'Draco, grab this ginger idiot by the arm, and Luna, take the Mudblood girl. We'll side-apparate them to the dungeons.'

Luna and Draco did as they were asked, Nordi himself took Potter by the shoulder and all three of them apparated in front of the Nordi's former tiny room.

'Oh, now I see.' Luna said. 'You are going to perform with them the same Ritual that you've once used to lock me, Neville and Ginny in this room .'

Nordi blushed.

'Exactly, Luna. Tell me… Have I already apologized to you for that?'

'Only like twenty times.' Luna answered, amused.

'Nordi, don't you think there's not enough time for performing Rituals at the moment? We have a battle going on upstairs.' Draco noticed.

'The ward is almost ready. Look, the Circles and Runic symbols are on their place.' Nordi answered, pointing at bloody patterns on the floor. 'I only need to blood-key the three of them, it won't take long. And with such a protection, we can have a certainty that they won't get away. If you could help me out, Draco, please…'

The two boys forcefully sat wriggling Granger and Potter down on the cold, stone floor, beside the Ritual circle, and dragged Weasley's unconscious body next to them. Nordi pricked their index fingers and let the drops of blood fall down, spreading it within the patterns. He muttered the quite complex incantation for the counter-ritual and watched the Circle glowing red.

Draco tried to manually push Potter and Granger inside of the tiny room, fighting with their furious resistance. Nordi cursed.

'Step aside, Draco. DEPULSO! ' he yelled, and all three Light Wizards were sent flying to the cell.

Granger and Potter immediately picked themselves up from the ground and jumped forward to the open door, where they encountered an invisible obstacle.

'Luna!' Granger yelled, looking at her former friend. 'Why?!'

'Don't even open your filthy mouth to her!' Exile snarled, outraged. 'Let's go, Draco, Luna! There's a battle to win!'

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Running through the castle engulfed by a fierce battle, Nordi saw a lot of stuff happening.

First thing was an entire wall of the castle blasting apart. Nordi, Draco and Luna were quite far away from the explosion, but a minute later they ran through the wreckage, having seen that a couple of Aurors had been buried alive underneath. A small crowd gathered around a dead body of a ginger-haired young man; probably another of the Weasley siblings.

The corridors were filled with fighting Wizards and Witches. The Order of the Phoenix was in a clear disadvantage; its members had probably already comprehended that, but they did still fight fiercely.

He saw a lot of familiar faces, throwing curses and hexes at the Aurors and pushing them to a desperate defense. Sept Nott and August Rookwood waved to him on the corridor. He caught a glimpse of fighting Fenrir. Yaxley and Dolohov were running opposite direction and they nodded, seeing him and Draco.

Nordi made his way running to the Great Hall, where he was hoping to meet Snape.

The largest room at Hogwarts turned into a genuine battlefield. Whooshes of flying curses and hexes were omnipresent, multi-color blinding lights were hurtful for the eyesight.

Draco jumped forward into the mayhem of the battle. Nordi wanted to follow him instantly, but he stopped and turned hesitantly to Luna.

'I could take you to a safe place…' he said silently.

'I signed up for this fight. I'm not disabled, you know.' Luna answered with dignity.

'Luna…'

'I want to fight. I'm not scared. Not anymore.' The girl said firmly.

Nordi nodded.

'Watch out and don't gamble with your life.' He warned her. 'I don't want to see you injured when it's all over.'

Luna opened her mouth to answer, but hesitated for a split second, and then- she climbed on her toes and kissed Nordi on the lips.

That was so unexpected and so incredible, that the boy found himself totally stunned. He clung his lips to Luna's soft, warm ones and embraced her gently.

The girl pulled her head after a few seconds and looked Nordi in the eyes, seemingly a little bit afraid of his reaction. Although, seeing nothing but tenderness and amazement in the boy's eyes, she sighed with a relief.

'Swear to me that we see each other after the battle, safe and intact.' She whispered.

'I swear by the Dark Lord's name.' he whispered back, and they stepped inside the mayhem.

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Nordi ran across the Great Hall, with hexes whooshing next to his ears, desperate to find Snape.

He spotted the Headmaster, who was fighting with a dark-skinned Auror- Kingsley Shacklebolt. Shacklebolt was a well-known Death Eater's hunter and a powerful Wizard. He was bombarding Snape with a laundry list of quick hexes, forcing him to keep his shields constantly up.

Nordi ran towards them and yelled a Cutting Curse towards Kingsley; the Auror was forced to turn away to block it. Snape made use of this split second of him being defenseless, and sent a powerful stunner his side. Shacklebolt collapsed on the ground without consciousness.

'Headmaster!' Nordi yelled, conjuring a shield against the next series of hexes from another Auror. 'We've locked Potter up in the dungeons!'

'Draco's already told me.' Severus answered, sending a strong curse towards the Auror who attacked Nordi. 'When this mess is over, Exile, you will…'

CRACK!

Snape didn't finish telling what Nordi was supposed to do when the mess was over, because Professor Flitwick apparated all of a sudden between the two of them.

Flitwick lifted his tiny head to look at both Death Eaters, and, before they had a chance to react, he used an unknown spell to conjure a small tornado. Nordi recognized an Element Magic falling to the same category as Fiendfyre; Flitwick had the full control over the whirlwind.

'EXILE, DODGE!' Snape yelled.

Nordi jumped aside, running away from the small, but powerful magical creation. Snape started shooting countless curses at the midget Professor; shutting him down must have been the only way to get rid of the tornado.

The whirlwind approached the fiercely attacking Headmaster; it forced him to start stepping back. Flitwick conjured a powerful shield on himself; none of the curses from Snape and Nordi could reach his tiny body.

The tornado consumed everything on its way, including the Head Table and a couple of chairs. It was far more powerful than one could assume, judging by its size. Finally, it reached the desperately fighting Snape. The professor disappeared inside of the magical whirlwind. Nordi jumped forward, yelling on the top of his lungs.

'NO! HEADMASTER, NOOO! FUCK! LET HIM GO!'

He chased Flitwick and bombarded him with a line of curses; unfortunately, the Charms Master was able to conjure as good shield as an experienced Dark Wizard. He shot a series of hexes towards Nordi, not even lifting his protective hempsphere.

'AVADA KEDAVRA!' Nordi yelled, ripping his throat.

A flash of green light crossed Flitwick's shield and hit his chest. The Charms Master collapsed, and the cursed whirlwind disappeared, dropping Snape's unconscious body on the floor. Nordi ran beside the dead half-goblin towards Snape.

'Headmaster! ENERVARTE!'

As Snape was slowly regaining his consciousness and opening his eyes, Nordi was shielding both of them from flying hexes.

'Headmaster, please, wake up, it's not safe here…' Nordi muttered, begging Snape in his mind to be alright after encountering the tornado.

Much to his relief, Severus spoke:

'Where's Flitwick?'

'I killed him. I had no choice. He wouldn't have lifted the curse.'

Snape looked at him with understanding.

'Headmaster, are you able to keep on fighting, or shall I get you out of here…?' Nordi asked.

'I can fight, Exile.' He said and Nordi helped him to pick himself up from the floor, around whooshes of countless hexes.

'Lift the shield, Exile. I will shield myself.' Snape said, regaining full control over his body. He looked around, assessing the situation on the battlefield. 'Look over there, what Bella is doing. Help her.'

Nordi looked at the side where Snape was pointing his finger. Bellatix was fiercely throwing curses towards an older, ginger-haired Witch, disregarding seven Aurors ,who had surrounded her and were desperately trying to hit her with a hex.

Nordi rose his eyebrows in surprise and apparated by Bella's side, immediately starting to eliminate the Aurors.

'Bella, what the hell are you doing?!' he yelled. 'Let go of that old crone!'

'She called me a bitch!' Bella answered, still desperately trying to hit the ginger woman.

Nordi froze on the spot, looking at the older woman with wide eyes. Well, that was unexpected.

'She called you…' he muttered through clenched teeth. 'CRUCIO!' he yelled, watching the ginger Witch collapsing on the floor in pain. 'BELLA, FINISH THOSE AURORS OFF!'

Bella bombarded the Aurors- who stood in disbelief seeing the ginger woman being under Cruciatus- with a series of curses, quickly shutting them down.

Nordi lifted the curse after a minute.

'Why would you…' he muttered towards the Witch lying on the ground '…insult my friend, who you don't even know?'

The ginger woman was unconscious.

Suddenly, a group of other ginger-heads flooded in. Nordi recognized the Weasley siblings.

'WATCH OUT, NORDI-BOY!' Bella yelled. 'THOSE ARE HER BRATS!'

Bella jumped forward and helped Nordi to shield himself from a fierce flood of hexes and curses from the Weasley teenagers' side.

'You won't be really popular amongst them right now, Nordi-boy' Bella joked, keeping the shield up.

Nordi frowned; there were five ginger youngsters in front of him; and yet, one of the siblings was locked in the dungeons, and another one was buried by the wreckage when a wall blasted apart.

'How many kids does that woman have?' he asked.

'Hm… A lot.'

'Do we have time to play with them?'

'No. We should end this battle as soon as possible; the Dark Lord is waiting for Potter.'

'You've got the point. I'm about to end this now.'

'How do you…'

'Lift the shields, Bella.'

'What…?'

'Trust me.'

As soon as Bella lifted the protective spell, Nordi yelled "FIENDFYRE!" and directed the cursed flames towards the five gingers in front of him.

The Weasleys scattered and started running away from the fire. Nordi was focused on controlling the flames, not to let them harm any Death Eater, but ordered them burn mercilessly anyone from the opposing side.

The flames spread quickly within the Great Hall, causing an uncontrollable mayhem. Members of the Order of the Phoenix, who managed to dodge them, have quickly realized who is responsible for the curse. Nordi stood defenseless and vulnerable, focusing his mind on the fire, and soon a flood of curses and hexes was sent towards him from each direction.

Bella protected the boy, repelling the hostile spells. Soon the other Death Eaters, whose enemies have either been burned alive, or preoccupied with attacking Nordi, joined her.

Nordi has never before controlled such an enormous Fiendfyre. Taking charge for this amount of cursed flames required to sacrifice his mind completely for this single task. He became an unity with his fire; effortlessly manipulating multiple flames to carefully avoid the allies and ruthlessly incinerate the enemies.

He was well aware that his body is defenseless and exposed to attacks, but he had a trust in Bella. Soon he caught a glimpse of Draco and his Father coming by her side to shield him, and then a couple of other Death Eaters followed them.

The scent of burned bodies filled up the huge room. Nordi could hear countless voices, screaming, crying out, cursing, throwing spells…

_It's enough, Exile. It's over. Put it down._

Snape's voice, whispering in his ear.

Nordi opened his eyes and snapped his fingers, lifting the curse and making the flames disappear.

The great hall turned into smouldering ruins. Nordi sighed with relief, seeing that nobody from his side has been injured by the flames; there was not even one person with a burned wound amongst them.

For a little while, he thought that he had burned down the entire Order of the Phoenix, because no enemy was left on the scene. However, there was not enough burned corpses on the ground to assume that.

Nordi turned his head towards Snape.

'Sir, where are the rest…?'

'They retreated.' Snape explained. 'Apparated away. However, there not so much of them left alive.'

'You've burned down almost a half of the Order, Nordi-boy.' Bella said in admiration.

The boy was still stunned.

'D…did I?'

'Yes, Exile. We have won.' Snape said softly, putting a hand on his shoulder.

Nordi turned around; everybody started to gather around them. Orion was walking around the Hall to help the injured ones.

At last, he spotted Luna, running towards him. He spread his arms to hug her.

The blonde girl embraced him and started sobbing, telling how terrified she was when the fire started. Nordi comforted her, explained, that everything was under control…

Above Luna's shoulder, he caught a glance of Bella, who looked at the hugging couple with joy and tenderness.

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A/N : Hey, there is one more chapter to go – the Reversed Ritual involving Harry Potter.

PLEASE guys let me know what do you think of the Battle. I'll GREATLY APPRECIATE any review. Thanks : )


	14. Turning a Special Boy Ordinary

WARNING: Some language and some violence/gore scene.

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Alecto and Amycus have left Hogwarts and headed to the Headquarters directly after the Battle was over, in order to take the younger students- who had found a shelter from the fight in the Manor – back to school.

Draco and Lucius departed shortly afterwards, leading the way for the other Death Eaters who partook in the Battle.

Snape, Bella, Nordi and Orion were the last ones to leave; it was in their responsibility to bring Harry Potter to the Dark Lord.

Luna insisted on going to the Headquarters together with Nordi. As soon as they stood in front of the cell in the dungeons, where Potter had been locked, she asked Exile yet again to take her along.

'Luna, you've fought so hard today, it was a first battle in your life...You need plenty of rest… I don't want you to strain yourself more than it's necessary.' Nordi muttered to her.

'Hey, you also _did _fight hard today and need rest as much as I do!' Luna answered.

'You're a girl.' Nordi noticed.

'Oh, well spotted.' Luna said, amused. 'In case you forgot, we kissed each other an hour ago.'

Exile blushed crimson, much to Bella's amusement.

'Let her go with us, Nordi-boy.' She suggested. 'It's such a pretty picture, seeing you two together.'

Even though it seemed impossible, Nordi could feel that he's blushing even more.

'Alright.' He said finally, and shot a hex towards the door of his former room, opening them violently.

Three teenagers- Potter, Granger and Weasley immediately jumped on their feet.

'Oh, that's a relief, Nordi-boy.' Bella sighed. 'This is a bunch of problematic kids, I was mildly worried that they might run away.'

'They couldn't have.' Nordi explained. 'I've blood-keyed them inside of the counter-wards.'

Snape came forward to the door.

'Potter, it is time for you.' He said sharply. 'If you try any funny business on the way, you will just make the journey more uncomfortable for yourself. Do you comprehend?'

Potter looked at Snape viciously.

'Take those wards down, Exile.' Snape muttered. 'Bellatrix, have your wand ready. You will tie his wrists up as soon as he gets outside.'

Nordi erased the blood patterns from the floor, muttering adequate incantation, and Bella yelled "Incancerous!" towards Potter as soon as the wards were down.

As soon as invisible threads tied up the raven-haired boy's wrists, Snape grabbed him by the neck, preparing for side-along Apparition. Bella shot a hesitant look towards the ginger boy and the Mudblood girl.

'Severus, what about those two?' she asked.

Snape turned his head towards two teenagers and shot them an unaffectionate look.

'The War is over, and we have won. The sooner they comprehend it and start to fit in, the better for them. I am not interested what happens to them anymore. They can go wherevever they want. Without their wands and without their precious friends, they pose a minimal danger; it is their turn to try and survive in an enemy territory.' He said in an emotionless voice and disapparated along with Potter.

'The Headmaster is right; I wish you to enjoy yourselves.' Nordi said mockingly to the two teenagers, taking Luna by the hand to side-apparate her.

Granger looked begging at her former friend.

'Luna…'

'I'm sorry, Hermione. I'm one of their kind now. I wish you two good luck.' Luna said calmly, and they disapparated. Bella followed them.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Potter was wriggling, wresting and snorting angrily, as Snape led him by the neck through the Headquarters' corridor.

Bella, who walked beside them, was mocking him and giggling. Nordi wanted to actually ask him for a reason of putting up such a desperate resistance.

'Why do you act up like that?' he asked, overtaking Potter. 'Do you like having a Horcrux part within yourself? Do you like feeling pain, when our Lord does? Do you like sharing his thoughts and emotions? Is that kind of bond really that pleasant and cool?'

Potter snarled at him.

'I hate it! But dying from his hand isn't pleasant and cool either!'

Nordi was genuinely confused by this answer; he exchanged surprised looks with Bella.

'I think our Potty got an idea, that we are leading him to our Lord so he can kill him.' Bella explained, seriously amused.

Nordi looked at Potter with wide eyes.

'Where did you get that idea from, Potter?' he asked. 'Haven't you noticed that we had like a thousand opportunities up to this point to finish you off, if we wanted?'

Potter looked at Nordi hesitantly.

'I thought that Voldemort was supposed to do it.' He muttered.

'Don't say our Lord's name!' yelled Bella, Nordi and Snape in unison.

Potter went silent.

'He wasn't supposed to kill you, foolish boy, he wanted you alive and unharmed for a reason.' Bella snarled.

'And what that reason might be?' Potter asked hesitantly.

'We are going to perform a Ritual.' Nordi explained.

'Like the one on the Graveyard?' the raven-haired boy asked; he became more and more outspoken in the Death Eaters' company as they were approaching the dark Lord's office.

Nordi flinched.

'Not quite. But you can compare those two, if you want; they have a lot in common. The Ritual today is going to extract our Lord's Horcrux out of your body.'

'Horcrux…my body?' Potter muttered.

'Didn't the old coot explain you everything about Horcruxes, when he sent you on this ridiculous hunt?' Snape asked.

Potter opened his mouth to reply, but they have already arrived to Lord Voldemort's office. The Dark Lord immediately commanded them to enter, and as soon as they were inside, he grabbed Potter without any introductions. His crimson eyes were blazing with fire.

Nordi looked down; the room was cleared of all equipment and furniture, leaving a large empty space. The Dark Lord has already sketched with his own blood an unbelievably complex Ritual Circle on the stone floor. Nordi immediately recognized it, along with countless Runic symbols inside; he watched a hundred times the illustration in his book, while preparing for the Ritual. The boy felt a cramp in his stomach; this process is not going to be a pleasant experience.

Narcissa Malfoy, visibly unnerved, stepped inside the room. She was wearing a spotless white medical coat and latex gloves, and carried a case of Potion vials in her hands. Seeing Orion, she quickly grabbed him by the hand, pulling him aside.

'Quickly, Orion, get washed up and changed!' she said impatiently, summoning a set of white coats and sterile gloves. She handed the medical outfit to Orion and pushed him forcefully out of the room.

'Lady Malfoy…' Orion said in surprise and confusion.

'One Healer is not enough for assistance in such a complex Ritual!' Narcissa hissed. 'Hurry up, Orion!'

In this moment, Septimus Nott appeared in the office's door and bowed in front of Voldemort.

'My Lord, are you already starting? Shall I bring him in?' he asked.

'Yes, Septimus.' The Dark Lord confirmed.

Sept disappeared, and Voldemort took violently Potter's hand and pulled the boy closer to himself. Potter wriggled and resisted, but the Dark Lord effortlessly aimed a mild Cutting Curse on his wrist and gathered a small amount of blood on the open hand.

The Dark Lord knelt down and spread the boy's blood all around the patterns on the stone floor. He drew the Circle and Runes once again, mixing Potter's blood with his own.

Just as soon as he was done, Sept appeared in the room again, this time levitating a body in front of himself. Nordi assumed at first, that it was a corpse of one of his Fiendfyre's victims- the body was horribly burned . However, as soon as Septimus uttered "Liberacorpus" and the body dropped on the floor beside the Circle, the person regained consciousness and wriggled. He was severely injured, but still alive.

This very moment, Orion returned to the office, changed into a white coat and latex gloves, still looking very confused. The Dark Lord spoke firmly:

'Only Potter, Nordi, Orion and Narcissa stay inside. The rest of you will wait in the Dining Hall.'

'My Lord…' Bella said pleadingly.

'You will wait outside with the others, Bella.' Voldemort said harshly. 'We will be alright. The more people in the room, the more distractions to the Ritual.'

After those words, Bella, Snape, Luna and Septimus stepped out of the office.

Voldemort yet again grabbed wriggling Potter by the neck. He made sure that the boy's wrists were tightly tied-up, and forced him to kneel down in the middle of the Circle. A soon as the boy was kneeling, the Dark Lord casted an "Incancerous" also on his feet, binding them together.

Afterwards, the Dark Lord opened his heavily-warded dresser, the one in which he kept his Horcruxes, and pulled out Godric Gryffindor's sword. He placed it carefully in the Circle in front of the surprised Potter. Nordi immediately comprehended: the sword was supposed to became a vessel for the Horcrux, as soon as it's extracted out of the boy's body.

Voldemord came forward to the injured person with nasty burn wounds, who laid on the floor and groaned.

'As you can see' he spoke calmly 'Auror Grosh from the Order of the Phoenix is joining us today to offer his life as a Sacrifice in the Ritual. Obviously, at this point, taking his life is nothing but showing him mercy.'

He drew his wand, aiming it at the wounded Auror.

'Avada Kedavra.' He uttered. Green flashing light washed over the body, and the groans stopped. Potter budged slightly.

Voldemort turned his head to Nordi.

'Are you familiar with the Ritual, Exile ? Do you know what you are supposed to do?'

'Yes, my Lord.' Nordi answered and unhooked his Ritual Dagger, slicing his left wrist. He knelt down and pressed the bleeding wound to the line of the Circle.

Voldemort knelt down in front of him, on the other side of the Circle, putting his wrist sliced beforehand in the same position. Harry Potter looked at them worriedly.

'As soon as I begin' Voldemort started explaining, for the benefit of Narcissa and Orion 'the Circle is going to start sucking up our blood in a very fast pace. Unfortunately, the nature of this specific Ritual requires an enormous Blood Sacrifice. Therefore, the most important for the two of you is injecting the Blood Replenishment Potion to our veins at regular, frequent intervals. If you are late with an injection, we can bleed out within a couple of seconds. Each of you must kneel by our sides and inject the Potion constantly.'

Orion paled rapidly. He looked like he was about to get sick.

Nordi's palms were sweating; he was well aware of the severity of this Ritual. He decided to warn Orion and Narcissa about a probable side effects, however horrific it was going to sound.

'My Lord,' he said. 'May I pay the Healers' attention to one more issue?'

'Yes, Exile, go ahead.'

'Lady Malfoy, Orion.' He spoke with a slightly shaky voice. 'This Ritual…' he looked for proper words to explain it. 'I mean, I've never performed it so far, but I know what is most probably going to happen. You must be aware that I may… lose my mind during the process. I may scream, yell, cry, beg you to get me away from the Circle. I may weep with bloody tears, sweat out blood and throw up blood. And therefore… the most important thing is, that you- in any case- cannot let me break the Ritual. You cannot let me lift my wrist up from the Circle. You must keep me on my place, even forcefully. Hold me, beat me up, curse me, if you have to. But do not let me break the process.'

Nordi's words definitely didn't help Orion to feel better; the young Healer was not only pale, but pale-green now. Narcissa looked horrified.

Nordi was quite sure that those side-effects will apply only to him. The Dark Lord was, after all, a most powerful Wizard in the modern world, and he was definitely going to endure the Ritual incomparably better than a teenage boy.

Orion kneeled down beside his former protégé and set the syringes ready. Nordi could see that his hands were shaking.

'I'm ready, my Lord.' Nordi declared.

Voldemort nodded and started uttering complex incantations.

The Circle started glowing a pale, red light, which quickly intensified. Nordi immediately started feeling his blood being sucked up, reinforcing the Circle. He squinted his eyes, but caught a glimpse of Orion, who was quickly loading up the syringes and made injections to his neck, one by one.

It was like a sine wave of feeling his body dried and blood-deprived in one second, only to feel it replenished thanks to the Potion the other one. The Circle was insatiable. Nordi was unsure how many liters of blood did it exactly require.

Then, the pain came. He could feel his interiors burning. Along with every single drop of blood that escaped his body, the immense pain jolted his veins and arteries. He clenched his teeth not to cry out and clung his wrist tighter to the Circle, but he was already aware that he won't last long and soon Orion will have to intervene…

Pain. His entire body consisted of it.

The time passed in a pace which made minutes seem like decades.

A warm liquid was coming out from his eyeballs, flowing down his cheeks, making a pool down his knees. He thought that was tears, until he lifted his free hand to his face. The liquid was much thicker than water; he opened his eyes and saw only a red mass.

Nordi was feeling like his body was going to melt. He felt like he's going to turn into a bloody pool himself. The pain intensified with each second; it reached the point of being unbearable a long time ago.

Nordi screamed, but couldn't hear his voice. It was muffled by a stream of warm blood coming out of his mouth.

_Hold on, it's almost done…_

_I can't, I'm going to die…_

_You cannot break the Ritual…_

_But I'm melting… This pain is killing me…_

Suddenly, he felt Orion clinging to him with his entire body weight and dragging him down to the ground.

'Nordi, don't move!'

_I see… I tried to stand up… To lift my hand up from this cursed Circle…_

'NORDI ! GET DOWN! WHAT… THE FUCK… ARE YOU DOING! DEPULSO ! DEPULSO!'

He felt Orion's curses, aimed at his back from above, pushing him down to the floor. The Circle sucked up his blood greedily. His body was melting. Orion took turns in throwing curses and injecting the Potion.

_Let go of me, Orion… Let me lift my hand, otherwise I'll go insane…_

'NORDI, STAY WHERE YOU ARE! YOU CANNOT BREAK THE RITUAL! DEPULSO!'

_I cannot break the Ritual…_

I CANNOT BREAK THE RITUAL! WHAT I AM DOING?!

Nordi finally regained his senses. However, he wasn't able to fight overwhelming dizziness and darkness covering his eyes. A huge flood of blood was flowing out of his mouth and eyes.

'NORDI! YOU CANNOT PASS OUT! ENERVARTE ! ENERVARTE! ENERVARTE!'

Orion yelled the "back-to-consciousness" spells, but Nordi couldn't resist plunging into darkness…

'NORDI ! FUCK, YOU MUST ENDURE IT! ENERVARTE!'

_I… cannot…pass…out…_

'ENERVARTE! MY LORD, HOW MUCH MORE TIME WILL IT TAKE?! ENERVARTE!'

'It's over.'

As soon as Nordi heard Voldemort's answer, he plunged into unconsciousness.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

'Orion, he's losing the entire blood as soon as you pump it into him! You must close his wounds first; use "Episkey"!' Nordi heard Narcissa's voice.

'I cannot! He's bleeding out of his eyes and his mouth, I can't "Episkey" them, can I ?!'

'Step aside.' Voldemort said coldly.

They both went silent and Nordi could see through blood running through his eyes, that the Dark Lord is leaning over him with his wand outstretched.

He could hear Voldemort hissing some complex incantations upon him, and his inner pain immediately diminished. His eyesight clarified, and his throat stopped filling itself with blood.

'Black! Inject him at least three vials more.' The Dark Lord ordered and Orion instantly pressed the syringe against Nordi's neck.

Nordi felt utterly relieved as his body replenished itself with blood again and his pain disappeared completely. He opened his eyes and lifted his head, only to see himself lying in an enormous pool of blood. He was soaking in it like in a shallow paddling; the blood covered the entire floor within the room, consuming the Ritual patterns. Harry Potter was still kneeling on the spot where the Circle used to be; he looked shattered by what he's just witnessed.

Voldemort walked slowly towards Potter, paddling in blood, that reached almost up to his ankles.

He grabbed the boy by robes on his chest and lifted him up, allowing him to stand on his feet, and vanished the ties that bound him. He brushed Potter's hair away from his forehead and gasped.

Eyes of everyone focused on the raven-haired boy's forehead. His famous lightening-shaped scar was gone.

Voldemort lifted the sword from the ground; his Magical signature could be sensed within it. The sword has became a Horcrux. They have been successful.

Potter, although disgusted of standing up to his ankles in blood and stunned of witnessing the violent Ritual, seemed to feel alright.

'How do you feel, Potter?' Voldemort asked, visibly curious.

The boy looked him into the crimson eyes.

'You know how painful our… bond was for me.' He whispered.

'I could imagine this. Is the pain gone by now?'

'Yes.'

'Do you feel…'

'I feel much better than before the Ritual.' Potter unexpectedly confessed. 'I feel… lighter, I can even think clearer now when the pain is finally gone.'

Nordi's blood-covered face lighted up in a smile, thinking how the idiot had been so fiercely resisting before coming there.

Suddenly, the door opened violently.

'My Lord, please forgive me, but I couldn't endure hearing those screams and …. OH!'

As Bella opened the door, blood spilled out of the office straight onto her feet. She froze on the spot, stunned.

'It is over, Bella. You may come.' The Dark Lord said.

Bella looked hesitantly, but stepped in as soon as she spotted Nordi lying in the pool of blood.

'I'm alright, Bella. The Ritual has been successful. ' Nordi reassured her in a weak voice. 'Don't come in, Luna!' he yelled noticing the blonde girl beside the door. He really didn't want Luna to paddle through his own blood.

However, the girl entered, making a tender face towards Nordi, and kneeled down by his side next to Bella.

Voldemort turned her face towards Potter.

'I await your decision.'

The raven-haired boy clenched his fists.

'I won't join you, if that is what you're asking about.'

'You will still have some time to reconsider it. For now, you are dismissed. Get out of here.' The Dark Lord answered.

Potter looked up at him in disbelief. He was clearly assuming that he was going to either be killed, cursed or at least imprisoned. The last thing he expected was to be "dismissed".

'What are you waiting for, Potty? Get the hell out from here. We don't want you.' Bella said impatiently, watching the boy staring at the Dark Lord.

'I…I don't u…understand.' Potter stuttered. 'Am I not the phropecised Chosen One? Am I not the one supposed to defeat you?'

'Not anymore.' Voldemort said coldly. 'The Prophecy is invalid. Look in the mirror, Potter. Now, you are merely an ordinary teenager. I do not care about killing you anymore. You will have to face your choice, comprehending that I have won the war. You can either fit in the New Order, or stand against it. If you pick the second option, bare in mind that you will be persecuted and hunted down. However, for now, you are free to go.'

Potter gave hesitant looks for everybody present in the room, and made his way slowly to the entrance, wading in the blood. He stepped out of the office, without looking back.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

A/N : THE END : )

Guys, I'm so grateful that you sacrificed your time to get through this story. I would be VERY appreciative if you decided to drop a few words in a review. What did you like in the story? What didn't you like?

And more importantly WOULD YOU LIKE A THIRD PART? A story taking place a few years later, an AU where the Death Eaters have won. Nordi is together with Luna and he accidently discovers the identity of his biological parents who…. aren't too pleased with him :D

Please let me know. Take care


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